RWBY: The Warm June Night (Condensed)
by Adam - Not Taurus
Summary: This is a condensed version of a story I've already been working on. Each chapter for the original belongs to a saga, mini stories within the main story. As the title implies, this condensed version puts all the chapters of a saga into a single chapter to support binge reading of it. If you wish to know more, there's a note in the first chapter of this story that explains the rest.
1. The Vacuo Saga

**Authors Note:** To further explain what this is, I've condensed the sagas in The Warm June Night into chapters. This is to promote binge reading, as I write relatively shorter chapters compared to other people on site. I've been taking my time and writing more recently, but I find that being able to read through all chapters at once without needing to do anything else nice. If you find this and haven't read the original story, then that's fine and you can read this instead. However, I will be updating this story less often because the sagas take me longer to write and the original is updated in chapters of those sagas. Other than that, enjoy the first: The Vacuo Saga!

**\- Chapter 1, New Beginnings -**

Our story begins 32 years before the Fall of Beacon. On the outskirts of Vacuo, which has a worse reputation than Vacuo itself. As harsh as it was, a family had found themselves living there, and even finding it peaceful. However, this is most definitely because the extremely skilled Huntsman, Oraculi, who protected his family to his best. He was a very tall, handsome man with a deep, red hair color; however, he was older now, and started to grow out a beard, with white hair starting to show up. The secret he kept to himself, that not even his wife knew, was that he held the power of the silver eyed warriors. As his eyes would give him away, he decided that wearing color contacts would help him hide. Unknowing to him, his wife, Angelus, decided that she would take their daughter, June, on a trip to the city for some bonding between the two of them. Angelus, a modest woman who had beautiful, long blue hair, was a daring woman who thought her happy thoughts and gleeful thinking would help them avoid Grimm in their travels.

Because of their location, and Oraculi's wanting to make sure his wife and child wouldn't wander off while he was working, getting to the closest train station a difficult trip. Angelus was determined, however, bringing everything that she needed in order to make the trip, and maybe stay in the settlement for a few days. Although not on the level as her husband, she had fighting experience from growing up in Vacuo. She brought a hunting knife and a simple dust, single shot revolver from Oraculi's collection. Angelus wasn't stupid, so she waited for a day when Oraculi would be working for a few days. She also wanted a settlement to be close when they departed. The stars had aligned, and a settlement had set up shop nearby, and Grimm reports from Oraculi were down. June was happy and energetic about leaving home. She was an active 5 year old girl, but she had never left her home or the area around it. June, with her dark blue hair, cut short, was excited, constantly asking her mother when they were leaving, which Angelus would respond, "Not yet, we have to wait a little longer." The little longer was them waiting for Oraculi to leave to take care of the much needed Huntsman work in the outskirts. After half-an-hour, Oraculi was getting ready to leave. He had said goodbye to Angelus and June, and had left. June wanted to leave the second her Dad closed the door, but Angelus made sure she would stay inside and wait. After another 30 minutes, Angelus and June headed out.

It would be a hour and 15 minute walk, which would usually be a 45 minute walk. The reason for the extension was to make sure they wouldn't bump into known Grimm locations. This would not help on that day. When the walk reached 30 minutes, a Beowolf had wandered in their path. Angelus was smart enough not to panic, and took out her revolver and disposed of the Beowolf. Even with June being young, she was a smart girl and was taught what Grimm looked like while also being told not think in any negative way upon seeing one. The fear was still there, however, she didn't show it. This had led to even more Beowolfs showing up, but also more of them being killed. Soon, Angelus had ran out of dust for her revolver and they were surrounded by the beasts. Not wanting to give up, Angelus took hold of June and grabbed her knife. Unlike Beowolfs in other kingdoms, the harsh, desert environment had made beowolfs into more armored, smarter, and aggressive beasts, more so than even other Grimm. Once they were surrounded, the Grimm had jumped to the two girls. Right before the first claw could strike, June wasn't thinking of her own demise, but of a wanting to protect her mother from the dark threat...

\- **Chapter 2, A Hidden Curse -**

The next thing Angelus could see was a white light surround the area where her and June were. Should couldn't see, though, the light surround a larger area, about half-a-mile. When the light disappeared, all the Grimm had gone with it, not even finding the decaying bodies trademark of the beasts. An act like this would make even an atheist believe in acts of god, but when Angelus looked down at June she had fallen and passed out. Deciding that it was too dangerous to keep on going, and wanting to figure out what happen, Angelus took June and thought her husband would be able to help her.

She got to 15 minutes from home, before Oraculi had found them. "What are you doing out here," Oraculi stated. Angelus, a strong woman, had told him that she wanted to take June to Vacuo, or a travelling settlement, without having to force Oraculi to not work for a time. Oraculi was mad, but the real reason he was here was because the light from where they were had gotten his attention. He had his theories, but he repressed them until they would get back. He walked back with his wife and child, holding June himself the way back.

They got back home and Oraculi started to ask what happened. Angelus had explained the white light scenario, and Oraculi had showed no shock. This was to her surprise, as something like this was never heard of before. Oraculi was hoping his daughter would never receive the gift he considered a curse, from which he started to explain the legend of the silver eyed warriors to his wife. Angelus wouldn't have believed it first, if not for the fact that what he described, happened, and that her child had silver colored eyes. She exclaimed,"If she had this power the whole time, why didn't you tell me before? And why do you find it as a curse instead of a useful tool?" Oraculi started to explain that there were people seeking to kill the silver eyed warriors, or, at the very least, disable their ability to use the eyes. This sparked more questions, including why they would hunt these warriors down, but the one that she asked was more important to her,"How does she have the silver eyes if neither you or me have the silver eyes?" She knew what the answer would probably be. Oraculi, not wanting to lie anymore, simply went to the bathroom, and he came back. Had removing his contacts, it was obvious his eyes were a silver color. Angelus understood the reason for it, but Oraculi still explained he didn't want his family brought into this mess. After that, Angelus could tell Oraculi's mood had changed since that morning, to a more depressing one. She had asked about it, and Oraculi explained his feelings. "I was hoping that the silver eyes wouldn't be the thing June got from me, but it seems that, more so than having them, she's a prodigy. I couldn't tell the path you took, but even I could see the light coming from her eyes, and she's at such a young age, younger than me, or even anyone I've known with the power, to first use the power." Angelus could see, now, why Oraculi was down. The day went by without any talking, but June had woken up. After being told they weren't going to a settlement or Vacuo anymore, June also became sad. She continued to rest from her silver eye use. Then, the day had ended.

The next day wouldn't have anything new, other than Angelus recommending that Oraculi train June to be a Huntress. Oraculi's immediate response was no, but Angelus was persuasive and gave her husband good points throughout the hour long debate. One of which being,"If silver eyed warriors are destined to be fighters, than wouldn't trying to resist it make her case worse?" This is the point that grabbed his attention the most because she was right. After a hour of arguing, including another point involving June being a prodigy, Oraculi agreed that he would train June, but he was going to wait until she was rested. He explained to Angelus that the first time someone uses their silver eyes, or uses them on the scale he believed she did, then the user was going to experience pain anywhere in their body. This broke Angelus' heart to know her baby was in pain, but Oraculi reassured her she would be fine. To be safe, Oraculi waited a week for her to recover, which was the average time one had to wait after first use. However, June was up and active only after 3 days and told her father she felt no pain from the event. All this did was prove Oraculi's point that she was a prodigy. The week had gone by, and Oraculi took June outside to begin the training...

\- **Chapter 3, Training Begins -**

June wasn't told the reason she was spending time with her Dad outside, but she was excited nonetheless. She didn't get to do much with her Dad in general, it was usually her and her mother. Oraculi hadn't prepared to bring anything this training venture. This was because he planned to teach June close-quarter-combat, CQC for short. Huntsman and Huntresses were known for their very unique weapons in the world of Remnant, but Oraculi found this as a weakness. Training his daughter in CQC first would make her treat her weapon as a tool to help her fighting, instead of relying on it in battle. The fact that silver eyed warriors were being targeted and killed by other people instead of just Grimm just supported Oraculi's idea even more.

When June and Oraculi had gotten to the training grounds, which was just a clearer part of the wasteland, Oraculi began to explain the reason for them being out there. He started, "The real reason I brought you out here is to... start training to become a Huntress." He his daughter was active, but he wasn't expecting her reaction. She was excited, very excited. She started to exclaim that she wanted to be a Huntress because of all the times Angelus would tell her about Huntsman and Huntresses and the things they did. Oraculi understood her reasoning to the best an excited 5 year old could explain, but he still had to be strict. He said, "Quiet," and June stopped in an instant. "I'll say this first, this will be strict and hard training. You'll understand when you're older, but for now we'll start with close-quarters-combat." June kept to herself while Oraculi started to explain proper technique. As much as he never wanted to train June personally, he's the only one he trusts to train her and keep her safe. He definitely underplayed his skills. He was a master CQC, being trained unofficially in a more straight forward, heavy kung-fu and advanced forms of CQC. He was an expert in both fields and even though he couldn't achieve the same speeds as other users of kung-fu, he can use the techniques that rely on such speeds in order to counter them.

Training would begin from there. Weeks had started to go by and then months. By the time June was 7, 2 years since her first use of her silver eyes, she had almost mastered a more fast-paced version of kung-fu than Oraculi. Although she couldn't beat Oraculi yet, she was already a little faster. During a training session with him, June had focused to go faster instead of thinking about actually technique, which led to Oraculi being able to see right through her technique. June had started with a kick, predicted, but it was faster than Oraculi was expecting. He was forced to catch it and throw a kick back of his own. June was shocked for half-a-second, as he never used kicks before, but she dodged easily. Oraculi was disappointed his daughter would become so predictable. He then twisted her into a spin by her leg, but to his surprise she recovered easily. She was on her feet after a second and was able to move far enough to recover. She went in with a fake punch, but Oraculi saw through it, didn't dodge and responded with a jab of his own. Much to her surprise her father had outran her, and was about to make contact. The next move surprised both of them. June instantly side stepped and ended up behind Oraculi, from which she was able to strike him in the back. Oraculi called off the sparring session and questioned June at her sudden speed boost. "I don't know, it was pure instinct and in the moment," she said. Oraculi had his guess, "It was probably your semblance, and at that, a speed semblance." At first she was excited that they finally discovered it, but then thought that it wasn't very unique. She had said this aloud, from which Oraculi said, "Don't think that way. Your semblance, no matter what it is, can be a great fallback, and even the ones that appear simple may be able to be used in a way that's unexpected." June took these words to heart, and decided that she would look for ways to make her semblance usage unique.

After another 2 years of training in CQC and martial arts, as well as mastering her semblance, she was finally able to beat Oraculi in their sparring sessions on a consistent basis. After a month, it was obvious she outclassed her father at only 9 years old. She had also grown fond of blue hoodie her mother sewed for her as a reward for her beating her father for the first time. The next training session would be different, however, which was unknown to June at the time. The session was going as expected, June outrunning her Dad and getting punches and jabs in. She didn't pay attention to what Oraculi was keeping hidden under his clothes. When the outcome seemed obvious, Oraculi had revealed what he was hiding. It was his personal weapon, an extending great-sword that made it easier to hide. June was shocked, but thought that speed wouldn't change and that it would be hindering her fathers speed, which she already considered slow. But what she didn't know, is that the sword was designed to get rid of his weakness: His slow speed. The sword was able to use dust on the blade in order to counter certain environments, like becoming a fire sword, but it also used anti-gravity dust crystals to make it far easier to use. June didn't know this. She continued her usual dodging, but Oraculi's speed was increasing. This prevented her from getting hits in because she kept trying to disable the sword. After she got accustomed to touching and hitting the sword instead of her Dad, Oraculi changed things up. He subtly doused the sword in electric dust, and right when June hit the sword, that battle was over. She seized up and recoiled from the electrocution. It wasn't enough to kill her, obviously, but she paralyzed for a short time. Oraculi put his sword away and waited for June to get up and recover. She didn't complain, she was only disappointed that she couldn't predict her own fathers weapon. Oraculi calmed her, "Don't blame yourself. It's hard to take on a Huntsman with his weapon without knowing what it can do, or having one of your own. At that note, you should start packing and preparing to head to a forge in a wandering settlement that has set up shop nearby." Immediately June was excited again. Other than the time her and Angelus had tried to got to a settlement, she never even tried to go anywhere before, and she knew Grimm wouldn't be able to stop her father.

Angelus was disappointed she couldn't go, and even Oraculi didn't want to leave her alone, but he didn't trust the settlement. The only reason he was going there for June's weapon was because he had a friend who owed him. His friend, Amica, moved there when he graduated from Shade. He wasn't as tall as Oraculi and wasn't as brutish, but he fit and well built, with black hair he cut short and matching color eyes. The settlement needed protection, and he had relatives there. When he grew too old to effectively be a Huntsman, he decided equipping the Huntsman and Huntresses that were taking his place would benefit the settlement. Eventually he became popular among Huntsman for his unique crafting ability, his persuasive talking and charming attitude, and to fulfill an order at a fast pace while still having good quality. Oraculi had met with Amica a couple months before the settlement would move, discussing where the settlement would be. Amica told Oraculi that the settlement would be close to their isolated location. Oraculi knew it was once in a lifetime opportunity, but he wanted June to best him in martial arts before he got her weapon. Not unexpected, June was a month early, so he decided that it was time she get her weapon.

Oraculi was prepared to go by 8 AM, but June got to fed up trying to think of a weapon she wanted. They would eventually leave by 9:30. June would say goodbye to her Mom. She was sad, but still excited. Oraculi had gotten Camels for this trip, as it would take a day to get there. She was determined to get there, but the desert heat was getting to her. By the time it turned night, there had been several Beowolf attacks. June wanted to fight them, but Oraculi knew CQC against Grimm would be lethal for her. At her best she could take on a Beowolf, but she was exhausted from the temperature. She fell asleep as soon as it turned night and the temperature dropped. They got to the settlement the next morning. Amica had told Oraculi he would let him stay at his shelter. June had woken up when they got to Amica's forge, and her face lit up with excitement. Oraculi had greeted his friend and felt good that he could rest. Amica took them back to discuss what would happen in their visit. When Amica and Oraculi were discussing the forging of June's weapon, Amica asked, "What do you want, June?" She was shy, as this was one of the first people she meant outside of her home. She was able to ignore it, though, and told Amica what she wanted. Oraculi had left before her explanation because this would ruin the learning part of future training sessions. Amica had gotten to work after the explanation, and told them where his shelter had been put after the move.

When June and Oraculi had gotten there, Amica's wife, August, had greeted them. Similar to her husband, August had jet black hair, but let it grow out to her waist. She also had a thin body and was not accustomed to the environment yet, as she was native to Mistral. August let them in and Oraculi had immediately went to rest after staying up all night. June didn't know what to do, being left alone with August, but August had been welcoming and tried to make her feel comfortable. She made her tea and decided to introduce her to her kids. One was a girl named May, who took after her mother in looks, and her sister, March. They were twins, but opposing personalities made arguing between them common. They both liked meeting new people, though, so they instantly greeted June. She thought it was nice to meet kids that were her age, but they were a little pushy. May had asked her about messing with her hair, commenting that the shade of blue was very pretty. March was a tomboy, though, and cared little about that. While May messed around with her hair, March kept bragging that her father made the coolest weapons. This led to June making an off comment, "I hope he is. He's making a weapon that I want right now." Instantly March showed interest, as she implied this meant June was a Huntress. "How can you be a Huntress? You look like you're 9? And how're paying for it," she asked away. June didn't have an answer for all of it, but agreed to show March what she could do. At that point, May had braided her hair. She was fine with it, but wanted it back to normal when she got home. March had some fighting experience from small training sessions with her Dad. She started by throwing a punch, which June caught easily. She had March in a choke-hold in under 2 seconds, making March tap out. She was mad that she lost so easily at first, but she soon started to look up to June. She wanted to be a Huntress as well, and this led to hours of conversation between the two. May would occasionally try to relate with June, but was either busy helping her mother or too distracted by doing June's hair.

By the dinner time, Oraculi woke up and Amica had come home early to eat dinner. He also wanted to be able to talk to his friend after dinner. May and August had prepared dinner. Everyone enjoyed the dinner, and when they were all done June wanted to ask Amica about her weapon. When she asked Amica about how it was going, March overheard her ask her Dad this, and butted in wanting to hear about it. "Well," Amica started, "The main two parts are done and I have to start work on the chains to connect them. The grips I'll let you choose when I finish the rest." June was happy that he was able to get so much work done at a fast pace. March, researching weapons and how they would work, could guess what June had asked for. When they went in to March's and May's, they prepared some blankets and comforters for June. March told June what she thought her weapon would be, she started, "I'm pretty sure that what you asked for were nun-chucks, wasn't it?" June told her she was right, but also told her not to mention this around her father, as she wanted it to be a surprise. March agreed, and they both went to sleep after May stopped them from continuing their talking.

June, too excited to see her finished weapon, woke up in the middle of the night. She needed to go to the bathroom, so needed to go by what could be the dining room. She wasn't supposed to be up that late, so she tried to avoid the bedroom and living area. However, Oraculi and Amica had been in the dining room, talking. She couldn't get to the bathroom, so she decided to snoop on their conversation. Amica started, "How is June in her training?" Oraculi answered, "It's going well, what I haven't told you is that she's already bested me in hand-to-hand combat, an-," Amica had cut him off. "She already outclasses you in hand-to-hand? I probably couldn't beat you in my prime now without my weapon," he said this as quietly as he could, but it was hard for him to hold back his surprise. This made June grin, and only fueled her ego even more. Amica continued, "I'm still shocked Angelus was able to change your opinion about training her and letting her be a Huntress, but I'm sure there's another... deeper reason, isn't there?" Oraculi sighed and he confirmed the reasoning for training her. "I hate to admit it, but she did receive my eyes. I knew she had, but I thought I could keep her from using them. Turns out, June's a prodigy. Angelus had tried to take her to a nearby settlement, but Grimm had surrounded them. I don't know how she knew what to do to use eyes, but she did. It killed all the Grimm in the area, and even caught my attention from I could guess was miles away. She was only 5." Amica was shocked to hear it. He knew how protective Oraculi was, and just felt empathy for him. "I see. I wouldn't want to be in that position. I know you basically have no choice because of the legend," Amica finished. Oraculi nodded, and continued, "Even with that, I've still resisted telling her about her power and how to use it." Amica, understanding the power well from being friends with Oraculi, understood why he hadn't. The power should be used as an absolute last resort to keep it a secret, so training her how to use everything at her disposal first would get her accustomed to this. Another reason, which Amica could tell was in Oraculi's head, was that he still didn't want her to know she had that curse. They were getting ready to head to bed when they noticed June had been listening in. Oraculi was angry that she was up this late, but then realized she had been there for the conversation. June had broken the silence, "What's so special about my eyes?" Oraculi told her not worry about it and said he would explain to her at another time, but also told her, in absolute seriousness, not to tell anyone about her eye color. June nodded, scared about how serious he was. She went back to bed after going to the bathroom, and then went to sleep...

\- **Chapter 4, An Unexpected Demise -**

June didn't say anything during breakfast, and neither did Oraculi. Amica was the only person who knew what happened last night, but he left before breakfast to get to the forge. He had many requests for weapons and repairs to deal with, including June's weapon. March tried to start a conversation, but June just ignored her. She was too busy thinking about what her Dad was talking about, and Oraculi was mad, both at June and himself, that she had figured out about her eyes earlier than he was letting on. Thankfully, as the day went on, June stopped thinking about it and felt better. June was helping around with chores, so March thought hanging out while doing them would be fun.

This trend continued on for the time they were at the settlement. After another day-and-a-half, June's weapon was ready, grips and functions working as intended. Oraculi, despite his more depressed than usual mood, still showed a little interest in seeing the weapon his daughter came up with up. June was getting impatient, and pushing Amica to show her. "Calm down. I still have to polish it get it for you," Amica said, and went on to go grab it. When he brought it out, it caught Oraculi's attention immediately. Not because of it's uniqueness, but for the opposite. It seemed like a pair of basic nun-chucks, colored in a black and blue finish. He didn't mention this to June, but he suspected the basic design was inspired from his own weapon, also meaning that the weapon would have a hidden function he didn't suspect, but for now only time and some training would tell what she was hiding. After storing the weapon, Oraculi and June said goodbye to Amica. They had already said goodbye to his family, so they began their journey back.

The trip back was nothing special, being near identical to their journey to the settlement. June had gotten more used to the sun, though, and found herself less exhausted from being out all day. They had got back home in the morning, but they both knew something was off. The candles looked as though they hadn't been replaced since they left. Oraculi shrugged it off, assuming they went out recently and that Angelus hadn't noticed it yet, as well as it being day. Still put off, Oraculi told June to unpack a little and went in by himself. While he was inside, June saw something bizarre for the area, a Grimm. She had never seen Grimm anywhere near them before, and she asked a year earlier why Grimm never wandered near them. Oraculi explained, the reason being the unique safe zone they resided in. There was a such thing as safe zones in the world of Remnant, places Grimm wouldn't wander in to. It wasn't similar to the kingdoms, which were large areas that were well protected. There were very few of these places, only 3 confirmed by kingdom governments, but the one they resided in was a well kept secret among Oraculi's family. The 3 found by kingdoms weren't being used as living areas, but areas of research to learn why it seemed Grimm avoided these "havens". June, knowing all of this, was confused how it got this close. Thankfully, it seemed it was walking away from the house instead of approaching. June decided heading in to tell her father that the Grimm were close would be a good idea. When she got in, it was desolate. There was no humming that came from her mother, and she didn't know where Oraculi went. She looked all over and finally headed outside through the back door, and that's where it all was wrong. Oraculi had been crouched down, his frame blocking the thing he was looking at. It didn't, however, block her from seeing the pool of blood and Grimm in the far off horizon. Her first thought was that her Dad was sneaked up on, but before she went with that theory, she realized the Grimm wouldn't had left... if it hadn't already killed its prey. Her heart had sank, but she still had hope. Until her father had stood up, and went inside, slamming the door behind him. June didn't move for hours, looking at what had happened to her mother, and understanding what had happened. There were claw marks all over her, looking as though a couple more would dismember her. It was a gruesome sight that would tell anyone what living in the deserts of Vacuo was like, but this was the first time June had seen a dead body, her mother, no less. Oraculi came back to take the body, looking as though he was dirty from doing something. It was only when Oraculi had picked Angelus up that June started to cry.

2 days had gone by since they came back home. Oraculi had buried Angelus close to home, and training would not continue anytime soon. This meant it was left to June to train herself when she was motivated. A week later, June decided it would be best to continue her training, knowing Angelus wanted it for her. However, she was simply shewed by Oraculi and told he wouldn't train her anymore. She didn't complain, but she took her weapon and began to train herself...

\- **Chapter 5, A New Adventure Awaits -**

June had continued her training by herself, without the help of sparring with her father to improve her technique. However, she had gotten very familiar with her nun-chucks, which she had named _Angeli_ Cadunt, or one being _Angeli_ and the other _Cadunt_. By her tenth birthday, she had gotten comfortable using her weapon, but still occasionally practiced her technique with martial arts and CQC to not lose her skill. At this point, Oraculi had been doing less and less, staying at home. A couple months before June's birthday, he remembered the wine cellar they had. Oraculi, a sober man who never touched the cellar left from his grandfather, had started to drink to the point of passing out. All this had done was make June start to dislike the man she once looked up to, as she saw him become a drunk who couldn't keep himself in check. However, this drunken stupor had made it easier for June to convince him to spar with her on her birthday. What she didn't know is that Oraculi wouldn't care what happened while he was drunk. The session began, and Oraculi immediately showed he wasn't holding back. He swung faster than June was expecting, way faster. She was forced to use her semblance to dodge, surprised at how much he was holding back from their past sessions. But she knew the sword was able to use dust, so she avoided touching it in any fashion. When the sword hit the ground, it caused a small quake and brought up the ground around it. June was almost frozen by this. Oraculi wasn't planning on stopping his sword if she didn't dodge, but it only started to bring out more rage in June. Her speed increased, but Oraculi had almost landed another strike on June. She caught the sword with the chain of _Angeli Cadunt, _but Oraculi was prepared. He used electrical dust and planned to take her out the same way he did last time. The next part caught him off guard. The current didn't travel through, and June was unharmed. Her nun-chucks handles had been magnetized for easy storage, but it was also to block electrical currents from being used against her. The spark coming from the current, however, meant it was more dangerous than last time, implying it could be lethal. June finally went into a fury over this, taking _Angeli Cadunt _and using its chain to force the weapon into the ground. The mix of anti-gravity dust crystals in both Oraculi's great-sword, and in her nun-chucks, had made slamming the sword into the ground easier for her. This had gotten his sword stuck in the ground. June thought this would finally impress him, but his emotionless face told her nothing. This was when months of drinking and complaining had finally made her snap. Her semblance was sent into overdrive, and before Oraculi could react, June had started to bombard him punches and jabs at pressure points, even getting in constant hits with _Angeli Cadunt_. Her speed had increased to such a ridiculous amount that she had started to form an afterimage that only threw Oraculi off more. Right before Oraculi could call off the match and concede, June had slowed down and eventually passed out. Her enraged state, while letting her go faster than she ever had before, had made her ignore her semblance overuse, and it led to her aura being drained faster than she expected. Oraculi, now seeing the pent up anger in her, decided that sparring sessions from time-to-time, and trying to reduce his drinking, would help her cool off more. He picked her up and went inside to let her aura regenerate.

By the time June reached 12, it was well known between the both of them that she could fend for herself. June, being able to consistently beat Oraculi since age 11, decided that she wanted to head out on her own. She thought her father would understand and let her go, but he was surprisingly clingy. For showing no emotion and not spending much time with her, Oraculi didn't want her to leave, using excuses to get her to stay. "I should teach how to get along with the camels before you go," one of the excuses he used to keep her there. Unlike fighting, taming the camels turned out not to be an easy venture for June, and it took her half-a-year in order to tame and learn how riding camels would work. As much as she knew it was a way to keep her there, it was an important thing for her to learn in order to travel across the desert. After seeing that her father did care about her, she decided staying longer would be the better idea.

The time had come closer, and June had prepared to leave at age 15. She had grown up, and she ended up looking just like her mother. Of course, she cut her hair short and wore her hood over her desert cloth/armor mix. In this time, Oraculi had also gotten her use to wearing color contacts in the house in order to hide her eyes. June, remembering the conversation he had with Amica, brought up her silver eyes, more specifically, asking Oraculi how she would use them when she needed it. Oraculi, knowing he had to, started to tell her the secrets about her eyes. Oraculi started, "To start, silver eyes and their powers only work against Grimm, this means activating them will require the presence of a Grimm. Activating them, which I hope will be easy for you, is thinking about the preservation of life." He told her everything he knew, remembering back to when she used them to protect her mother. That's when it clicked for her, and she realized she only cared for her mother in that moment. After he was done, he told June to prepare to wake up early tomorrow. She obliged, and was waken up early by Oraculi. They ventured out into the wasteland until they came upon a Grimm. This is when June understood what was happening. Oraculi had walked up to the Grimm, unarmed. The Grimm, a desert Ursa, had began to charge him. Right before it had gotten to him, he opened his eyes, showing the glowing white light coming from them. The Ursa had been completely destroyed. It was June's turn the next time they found a Grimm, but it wasn't long before they were found by a Grimm. The Nevermore had sneaked up on them, and started to dive-bomb Oraculi. Right before it could get close, June saw it and took the opportunity. She focused, knowing the Nevermore would kill her Dad if she was too late. This was all she needed. The light was more aggressive than Oraculi's, which had caused the Nevermore to be destroyed instead of turning to stone as it should've worked with Grimm of that scale. It also stretched longer than what Oraculi had done. June was winded from using them, showing to Oraculi that she needed more practice in order to use them efficiently. They got home, and June had stayed a couple more months to train her eyes.

The day she would leave was the day she hoped would be the last day she saw her father. She was thankful for his training, but knew the only reason he started to train her was her mothers influence. She still wasn't happy about Oraculi's condition, and, even with her being very mature for a teen of her age, still had the youthful optimism of wanting to explore the outside world. This mix made her excited to leave. She had left giving a simple goodbye to Oraculi, but to her surprise, he hugged her and started to cry. He didn't say anything, and neither did she, but Oraculi new she wouldn't be coming back. June hugged back, but left without shedding a tear over it.

She would be left to wander Vacuo, learning quickly how things worked. She also became fascinated by Faunus'. She was told about them by her parents, but she had never seen one and was very interested in them. She learned how the academies worked, researching Shade in specific. She found, when researching all four academies, that students found that studying at Beacon was favored. Even reports from students visiting each school from the Vytal Festival indicated that students preferred going to Beacon. Quite contradictory, Atlas was reported to be the school that was well versed in technology and was the most advanced, but it was found too harsh for Faunus to live there and it was too authoritative for her tastes. She decided she would head near Shade Academy to experience what life would be like around there, and continue her research...

\- **Chapter 6 (Finale), The End of a Saga -**

June had gotten around to Shade a year after she had left home. At 16, she was being mistaken for an official Huntress where ever she went, so being near Shade only increased that problem. What she didn't know, is that the current headmaster of Beacon was visiting Shade. A young Ozpin had caught the eye of many in his early years, mostly for being the youngest headmaster so far. This made many consider him a prodigy, but, of course, the real reason was that he planned for it to happen as the king of Vale. Ozpin had been there to increase relations there, as even other headmasters wouldn't visit Shade for its cruelness. Ozpin, wanting to keep the kingdoms united, thought visiting would help. The other reason? He planned to check on the relic held under the school, as it would be the first time he checked since his reincarnation.

Back to June, the way she had made money was to take advantage of people mistaking her as a Huntress. Whenever she stayed some time at a settlement, she would be asked to protect the settlement while she was there. She agreed to the jobs, and even took over some bounties from actual Huntsman. All of the jobs she took over the year had earned her a reputation among outskirt settlements. Even with their constant moving, communication was important between settlements, so news traveled fast of a wandering Huntress capable of completing any assignment given to her. The news had even reached Amica's settlement. His family, though knowing June, didn't know it was her, as the rumors of this "Huntress" included no mention of her weapon. When she got to the main part of Vacuo, though, her reputation hadn't followed her, so she found herself caught up in more fights of people who didn't trust her. One of the unspoken laws in Vacuo was that if you're tough enough to survive, you're seen as an equal among the citizens, but her newness led to people not trusting her.

This was apparent by the first bar and inn she found to stay at for the night. When she first entered, she caught the eye of everyone there, half thinking she was a Huntress and the other half planning to hit on her. When she had sat down and asked for a room and water, she had been approached by a drunk and his two friends. They sat near her and started to pester her and hitting on her. When she showed no sign of interest, and told them firmly to fuck off. Everyone looked at this, as the 3 men were the biggest in the bar. Being drunk and ruthless, they started to get closer and showed that they were pissed. Right before they got close, she finished the water and stood up. She knew that no amount of convincing would prevent them from trying to attack her. Besides, she needed to prove she could defend herself in Vacuo. She didn't move, and let them get closer. She wasn't in the mood to draw out the fight, so her semblance would prove helpful in that. Right before the first punch could connect, there was flash and a gust, but she was only a couple feet back from where she was. The men didn't know what happened, but they soon realized they had been disarmed and that their dust weapons and knives had been put in a pile at the other end of the bar. Another flash happened and the 3 collapsed, and she was back sitting down asking for another drink. Again, she didn't realize who the people in the bar were. More specifically, Ozpin was at one of the tables with the current headmaster of Shade, Theodore or Theo. They were lying low, but saw everything that had happened. Ozpin looked at Theodore, but Theodore showed he also had no idea who the young girl was. Unlike others, they both could tell she was too young to be a Huntress, as well as they both couldn't recognize her. Her speed had impressed both of them, however, so they both wanted to know who she was. Ozpin decided he would keep an eye on her while he was there, but wouldn't approach her tonight.

As the days went by and Ozpin's visit coming to an end soon, he kept an eye on June. He found that she was staying near the academy and making occasional trips to the library in the school. Teachers also told him that she was asking about how the school was like. Ozpin assumed she must've planned to become a Huntress. He didn't want to miss the opportunity to convince her for real, and also see how she learned to fight this skilled already. He decided waiting in the library for her to return would be best. June had gotten to library a couple hours later than her usual time. Ozpin had approached her and sat down at the same table she was at. June payed no attention to this, but Ozpin had started to ask. "What's your name, miss," Ozpin had started. June ignored him, so Oz brought up the academies. He then asked if she was a Huntress. Her default at this point was to say yes, but all Oz had said was, "Are you sure about that?" June stopped reading, and finally looked at who she was talking to. Though not knowing much, she did know what Beacon's headmaster looked like. "So what is the reason for Beacon's headmaster being Vacuo," she added. Oz explained that he was there when she displayed her speed in the bar, and that he was interested in how she was trained without there being no reports about her existing. June stood up, put off that he would know these things. She had threatened Oz because of his knowing of her getting there. He simply put that he was interested in her abilities and thought that becoming a Huntress would be good path. June had admitted she wanted to, but before Oz offered to let her into Beacon after proving her merit, June had planned to attack Oz. Much to her dismay, Oz had dodged the first blow, which he showed no struggle with doing. June continued, wanting to see how much of a prodigy Oz truly was. She started to use her semblance, forcing Oz to actually dodge with close to his full speed. There was a tiny crowd gathering around the fight, as it wasn't common for Beacon's headmaster, or any headmaster, to get in to fights with people. Oz, needing to see her full capabilities, let the fight go on. However, she wouldn't show her weapon unless she needed to, so Oz had to do more than dodge in order to get her to use them. Oz had thrown hits back, of which she dodged, showing she was still holding back more speed. The fight was on another level, even to the other Huntsman there. After Oz had gotten a couple hits on June, with his trademark cane, she decided using _Angeli Cadunt_ would have to do. After 5 minutes of constant dodging and prairies, Oz saw that the fight would continue on unless he used his full strength. He didn't want to, anyway, and he showed her he conceded. June stopped, but still didn't trust the man. He started, "I planned to see how strong you were without fighting here, but in the meantime lets have a walk." He motioned to the crowd that had gathered, and waved them off. As they walked through Shade, Oz explained that he wanted June to attend Beacon, but also said attending Shade wouldn't bother him. June, seeing the opportunity to get into an academy younger than 18, told Oz she was only 16. This led to Oz offering her entrance into Beacon. Oz told her he was heading back to prepare for the new school year, and said that she could come with him to Beacon when he left. He said she would have time to decide whether she wanted to stay in Vacuo, or attend Beacon. He even told her that he would get Theodore to accept her at the young age if she decided to attend Shade.

In the days leading to Oz leaving, June had thought over his offer. With past research indicating that Beacon be the better school, and her wanting to finally leave Vacuo. Finally, a couple days before Oz would leave, she told him he accepted his offer to attend Beacon. She hadn't thought back to her father in the year she had been gone. She was confused by the pull Vacuo had on her. To be fair, she had grown up in Vacuo, and thought back to the people she had. This led her to see if she could find March, one of the only friends she recalled having of her age. Luckily for her, she figured out March was visiting Shade because she was planning to apply when she was old enough. March was confused when Ozpin had greeted her, but she looked up to the headmaster. She showed as much excitement as someone in Vacuo could show, but Oz knew she was excited. He remarked to March that he was there only to introduce her to someone. It was June, but March didn't recognize her at first. June told her who she was, and March had showed interest for where she went. June explained that she started to explore when she was 15, and that she was going to Beacon with Ozpin in a couple of days to attend. March started to show that same enthusiasm she showed when June first told her that she had some training. They spent the next couple of days recalling what had happened in the time they hadn't seen each other. In that time, Oz had gotten a scroll for June, which would let June talk to March when she went off to Beacon. March was sad that June was leaving, but they both knew that it was mostly because March wanted to go with her. They said their goodbyes, and they promised they would stay in contact. While June was on the plane, she couldn't help but think what was in store for her in the future.

This thus concludes the _Vacuo Saga_.


	2. The Beacon Saga

**\- Chapter 1, The School Year Begins -**

The ship had landed at Beacon, and June was interested in seeing the school she was going to spend 4 years in. Ozpin had started to give her the tour of the school, starting with the courtyard and going on sequentially. From the dorms to the library, she saw the whole school. Oz then brought her to his office at the top of the school. Oz, knowing she didn't have a place to stay, gave June keys to one of the dorms to stay in before the beginning of the new semester. Oz kept it to himself, but something put him off about June. She would occasionally rub her eyes, and it felt like her eye color was didn't fit her. It was a bright red and they had popped out as it contrasted her hair color. Oz even overheard March bring up one of the reasons she didn't recognize June at first was that her eye color didn't seem familiar. When June went to get comfortable, he decided that he would leave the eye thing for another time.

After a couple months of preparation, the new semester had begun and new freshman had started to come in from the ship. June had headed to the auditorium and was joined by Oz, who was heading there to deliver his speech to the new freshmen. They had run into freshman and students alike while heading there, but one interaction would change June's life. They had bumped into a freshman Ozpin had his eye on since she applied. Ozpin had introduced June to Summer Rose, a new freshman. He specifically stopped for Summer to confirm something. June said hello and they both waved, but June then froze with eyes wide. She saw what was special about her. Her silver eyes had stuck out like a sore thumb when June noticed them. June had leaned in uncomfortably close to Summer's face. "Um...," she got out, and June realized what was wrong. She stopped and apologized. This had confirmed Ozpin's suspicion, and knew that she had known the legend of the silver eyed warriors. He would bring it up later, and they continued on to the auditorium.

His speech was nothing special. His usual brutal honesty had led to him appearing as rude, but it had motivated some of the students in a weird way. Truly, though, this was going to be an interesting 4 years for Ozpin. Between a silver eyed warrior and the mysterious June being a freshmen, he was interested in what was going to happen these next 4 years. Speaking of June, he had called her to his office to discuss something. June was confused, as he hadn't mentioned the reason for needing her. When she got to his office, he was waiting with his arms on his desk. He gestured her to take a seat, and had started to talk. "So, June, where do you come from?" June had answered simply that she grew up in Vacuo. Oz had decided to cut no corners, and after she said that, he asked, "Do you believe in fairy tails?" June didn't know what to say to the odd question, but she responded with a, "I guess it does seem bizarre to believe in them." Ozpin started to go on about the supposed origin of the seasons, but then got to the one he was looking for. "How about a legend? Of people with extraordinary power, people who could simply look at Grimm and kill them." June started to feel uneasy. Between them stopping for that Summer Rose, and the oddness of her being called without a reason, she suspected he knew something. "However, I feel that you may already know about that legend no one else does," he added. June stood up fast, knocking the chair over. Papers started to go flying, as in under a second June's hand was at Oz's throat. He didn't flinch, but June had started to talk, "My Dad had warned me about people hunting us, but I wouldn't have suspected a headmaster would be one of them." Ozpin had told her he had no intentions of killing her, and also added it was his school and that if he wanted to do so he could've already. June saw his point and backed off, but still didn't trust him. She asked how he knew about the legend. "I've been around a lot longer than you think," he said. June didn't like the answer and how vague it was but he was more secretive than her, so she decided the answer would have to do for now. June went back to the room where the freshmen were staying for the night when they had no dorms. The dorms had been used for teams, and June had been kicked out to get ready for it's future occupants. June hadn't planned to get too comfortable, and decided to sleep in her hood for a blanket. She was getting a chair when someone approached her. "Hello," Summer had said. June had responded back with the same. It seemed Summer had wanted to get know June. This was because, as weird as their introduction was, June was the only person she at least knew a name for. June remembered what she had done and again said sorry for getting too close earlier. Summer said it was fine and added that she was curious why her and Ozpin were walking together. She replied honestly, saying she was from Vacuo and that Oz personally brought her here. Summer was interested in what made Ozpin want her there, but she didn't ask many questions. Although she built up the courage to talk to June, she was still very awkward when it came to meeting new people. June was also not very good at talking to people, so the two didn't talk for long. Summer asked her about her weapon, though, and June showed her what it was but didn't explain its capabilities. Summer seemed to have an interest in weapons, telling June that they were fascinating to her. Even though they were both not good at interacting with new people, the weapon comment had made their conversation last longer. When Summer noticed the time and it seemed that they were finishing up, she said goodbye to June and told her good luck on the entrance exam.

The next morning was the important part. The entrance exam is an alternating test that is chosen randomly to prevent test predictability. The test this year would be the checker piece test. All the freshmen had lined up on the jump pads, Oz, waiting with his mug to explain the test, had started to explain. After explaining the eye contact rule and the chess pieces, he had let the test begin. As they began to launch off one by one, June had noticed where Summer had landed, but wasn't trying to get on her team. She decided that she would rely on fate for her teammate. She hadn't gotten to know anybody, but she had talked with the teachers while she was staying before the semester start. Being there was already differences between Vacuo and Vale and the people were already different from home, so she didn't know what to expect from her teammates. After a few Grimm encounters, she found someone. She had shoulder length hair that was a gray color and styled in a pony tale. Her outfit was, in June's own words, revealing, being a top and shorts. She had some armor for protection, but it was an opposite to June's outfit choice. They had made eye contact, so the girl introduced herself. "Hi, my names Ino," she started. All June had said was her name, and then they started to move together through the forest. Before Ino could say more, she told her that it would be best to focus on getting past the Grimm and finding the chess piece. Ino stopped talking after that. When they got to the pedestals where the pieces were put out, there were several other pairs grabbing pieces. This included Summer's pairing, of which was an edgy teenager girl with long hair with a red sword. They had grabbed the knight piece and started to head back. The Grimm had increased in intensity, the pair running into a couple Ursa's and finally a large pack of Beowolfs. June disposed of the Beowolfs quickly, finding they were easier to fight in Vale. The two had worked together to take down the Ursa's, finding that Ino's long range fighting style with her dual wield pistols and June's rapid close up assault tactics with _Angeli Cadunt_ worked nearly perfectly together. When all teams had gotten back, it was revealed that pairs that had picked the same pieces would be put together as teams. The students gathered in the auditorium to be put into teams. Right before June and Ino, Summer's team was revealed. "Summer Rose, Tai Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen. The 4 of you gathered the white knight piece. You will now be known as team STRQ, led by... Summer Rose." Summer had looked nervous for a second, and hid farther behind her hood. It was June and Ino's turn next. Two boys had went up with them. One had jet black hair, similar to Amica's, but it was long with red stripes in the hair. The other boy had it very short with an odd forest green color, but he was also a shorter one. June had saw them in the forest fighting a Nevermore, one with what seemed to be a rifle. "Levi Cross, Uraclay Mckenley, Ino Yamen, and June." The lack of last name had caught some of the audience off guard, but Ozpin continued. "The 4 of you all acquired the black knight piece. From now on you will be known as team JULI. The team leader will be... June." June didn't show any emotion to being dubbed the team leader.

After the teams were all read aloud, they were assigned dorms. Class would begin tomorrow but the rest of the day would be used to let the freshmen settle in and unpack. While walking to her dorm, Summer had came up behind her. She asked her about being the leader of her team. June, being from Vacuo, explained that she wanted to get to know her teammates to understand what Vale's people were like. Summer offered to show her around the city when break came along. Ino, eavesdropping, heard this and butted in the conversation. She had also offered to show her around, showing interest in the fact that she came from Vacuo. Levi and Uruclay continued on to the room without saying a word to anyone else, but had gotten lost. June was able to show them where the dorm was, explaining she was given a tour of the school beforehand. This led to a witty comment from Levi, "Not even a full hour and you're acting like a leader." Levi was the one with the jet black hair. This led to him patting her on the back. She didn't like it, but she understood that it had good intentions. He was trying to get everyone comfortable with each other, as they would be a team for awhile, obviously. They had gotten to their dorm and started to unpack. June didn't know what she would do as leader. Levi and Ino had been getting along just fine and were talking about which part of Vale they were from, among other things. Uruclay was the one with dark green hair and he kept to himself. Once they all seemed finished unpacking, Ino asked where they all came from. It turns out Uruclay and Levi were lifelong friends who both attended Signal. They grew up in a more northern part of Vale. Ino had lived closer to Beacon, and graduated a different lower school from Levi and Uruclay. Then the question then came to June. She told them she was born in Vacuo, and that her father was a skilled Huntsman that had been the one who trained her. She added that she met Ozpin while he was visiting Shade, and he had offered her a place in Beacon after he saw her skill. Their first reactions showed disbelief. Between being only 16 and personally being brought by the headmaster to Beacon, this was understandable. Ino found her even more interesting. The next thing that Levi and Ino asked was about their weapons, more specifically being their origins and names. Ino's dual revolvers were the _Muerte Gris_, designed to hold heavy dust shells to inflict maximum damage. The guns had also been designed with a hidden blade in case she needed them, and she explained the name was an impulse from when she first had them made. Levi's was a black rifle with red stripes, resembling his hair. His rifle, the _Rote Bedrohung_, could fire two different shells at once for efficiency. The weapons origin, being the opposite of Ino's, was thought out well before the weapons construction. Levi then explained that Uruclay's weapon was named the _Geheimnisvoller Wald, _and that they both came up with their weapon names together. The weapon appeared to be a modified sickle that seemed to bulky to only be a sickle. They had moved on to June. She said that her weapon was forged as a favor from a friend of her Dads, and that the name was _Angeli Cadunt. _She was asked where the name came from, and she remembered its origin coming from her mothers death. She decided that she wouldn't tell them that, and told them it was something personal she didn't want to bring up. They didn't bother her about it, and continued the day getting used to their new room. June thanked Ino and Levi about the asking the questions, as it did help them all connect better. They said it was no problem, and then they all prepared to go to bed. June went to sleep that night, not knowing what life had in store for her the next day while she was in Beacon...

**\- Chapter 2, The First Semester -**

The next day was a hectic one in the school. New students were trying to figure out where class was and some were rushing to get ready. As hectic as it was, June was keeping her calm, while helping her team get ready and showing them where class was. Although she didn't feel ready for the role, she was trying to take it with a stride. After the first couple of classes, lunch had came around. The team got their lunch, but they had split up to find their friends. All except June of course. She sat by herself as she didn't see where her team went, and then thought that she should let them find their friends. To her surprise, Summer had taken a seat next to her. June was going to ask where her team was, then realized they all had sat down with her. June, after Summer asked where her team was, said they went to find their friends. Summer said that she seemed lonely and that her team didn't want to find anyone specific, so they didn't need to sit somewhere else. Well, there was Taiyang, but he had already went to find his friends. June didn't know what to think of STRQ, between the almost anti-social Summer, the quiet Branwen siblings that felt they were hiding something, and Tai's light personality, it was a very odd team. They stayed with June for the time, and then class had started up again.

The next class was the class focusing on battle strategy, but students referred to it as sparring class as it also put students against each other. As the name implies, the class was focused on honing battle skills and strategies with lessons on strategy, one-on-one fights, or, if the student had shown enough skill, could take on another team. This was the class people would here rumors about, mostly being that the class was the best class. However, there would be no sparring sessions on the first day of school. As the classes went on one-by-one, JULI became more tired. Once the clock hit six, they had been exhausted. June had tried to help them through it, but they were too tired and decided to rest at the dorm. Even with the grueling schedule, June didn't have a social life compared to some of the other students, including her team. Even Uruclay, who seemed like an introvert, still wanted to see if games of _Remnant: The Game_ were hosted in Beacon. This led to the rest of JULI looking up to June as a team leader more as the days went by. June wasn't one for trying to show off, but keeping her composure around her teammates would inspire them. Even with her being able to keep to herself, it would only prove to make temper short lived if she didn't find a way to cope with it soon.

Only half way through the first semester would prove this. The day had been a normal one, including the pestering during lunch. To explain, a couple weeks after the start of the year, a sophomore, named Kody, would shoot spitballs at JULI during lunch. He would occasionally mess with any of them in the hallway if he saw any of them. However, he mainly started to focus on June, as she showed no reaction to him doing this, and he wanted to see what would prone a reaction. It was starting to reverse, though, as he would get annoyed when June wouldn't move and show nothing. He even made her drop her food from one time, but she didn't show anything and just decided to not eat that day. It wouldn't have worked in a normal case if not for the stress she was already under from the school schedule and her extra responsibilities as a leader. In sparring class, the two fighting would be none other than June and Kody. The class was special this day, as sophomores who had an off block were allowed to view the fights, including being able to cooperate in fights if allowed by the professor. Kody had been one of them. Her normal response was to deny the pairing, as she usually did. Her grades had impressed the teacher, so he wouldn't force her to fight and wouldn't give her a bad grade for not sparring. She would have to spar eventually, though. Of course, no one thought this would be the day she accept, but there was quiet shock when she simply nodded her head and started to head down to the fighting stage. Kody was hiding his fear, knowing nothing about her fighting style, but dashed the thought thinking that the reason she didn't fight was because she couldn't. June never tried to intentionally get into fights for stress relief. However, she admits it feels good for her take it out on someone. When they were both ready, they walked out and took their positions. The teacher had let the fight begin, and Kody started to approach her. His weapon, _The Judgement_, was part power and part intimidation. It was a giant war-hammer, but was probably hiding some other function. Even with Kody getting closer, June hadn't moved, her blue, damaged hood hiding what was underneath. The fear he experienced beforehand had started to resurface, but similar to last time he dashed it. He decided to throw the first swing. As June suspected, it was slow, but fights with her father had only kept her on her guard. She dodged slightly and Kody was staggered from the swing. This only proved to June that Kody had been a bigger idiot than she thought. June had decided that she would draw out the fight, constantly dodging his swings. Kody was getting more angry as the fight continued. This led to a downward swing from Kody that June sidestepped easily. However, what she didn't notice was that the hammer had shot dust into the ground, causing a decently large quake that made June lose her balance. He fired again to get the hammer out and threw another swing. June, still trying to recover, barely had time to dodge, and the hammer just grazed her as she ducked under it, almost needing to use her semblance. Kody, surprised that she could still dodge it, thought he could get her again. When Kody turned to face June behind him, her expression was pale. There was a cut on her cheek that her aura regenerated quickly. It had been years since the last team she was cut or hurt in a fight, especially from an attack she could've anticipated. She wasn't as mad as the one time with her father, but anger only brought out her semblance's potential more. She was in front of him in a millisecond, and then there was a flurry of blue. The teacher didn't see connected hits, but when he checked board it said that Kody's aura was draining rapidly. Kody started to show the knock-back of consecutive hits and tried to take a swing at her, but June flanked him and continued her barrage. Their spectators were speechless, as all they could see was June standing still with lifeless gaze as a blue blur was surrounding Kody. He recoiled and tried to resist. His aura had run out, and June looked as though she was going to hit him again with _Angeli Cadunt_, which had been unsheathed out of nowhere, with a lethal blow. Right before the teacher could call it off, the nun-chucks flashed to her side and she had merely knocked him out with a jab. June had then fell to a crouch, her aura almost completely drained like the last time she went into a rage. Her semblance was drawn out with emotion, but every time something like this would happen, she could use her semblance better and more efficiently. The professor declared her the winner, and classes had ended for the day

The semester would go on. It was safe to say Kody wasn't going to mess with them any longer. This match, however, showed Ozpin what he wanted to know. In all honesty, he was the reason for the match up. He wasn't aware of Kody's pestering of June, but the reason he did was that Kody was at the top of his class in personal duels. Oz was also the reason for allowing the higher level students in the class that day. He wanted to see the June's skill and, although impressed by her easily taking him out once she took it a little seriously, the footage wasn't able to pick up her fast movements. In person, he could see her movements, but in footage it seemed he would need a more advanced computer. What interested him even more, is that it seemed she had more potential. If he could learn who she was and gain her trust by the end of the school year, he would introduce her to his group. As the weeks went by and the first semester was coming to a draw, June had made good friends with Summer, finding out that they had similar interests. This was not only their interest in weapons, but they both had quiet personalities and thought in same way. June was also connecting with her team more, Uruclay even starting to speak up to Ino and June instead of just talking through Levi. One day, at lunch, they were discussing where they were going for winter break. Ino was going to visit her family in Vale, and Uruclay and Levi said their families were going to join together in festivities. June said she was going to stay at Beacon for the break, but didn't mention that she was going to go to Vale with Summer who was going to give her a tour. "Oh come on, June," Levi said, "You could spend some time with your teammates for a break." He said this in a joking manner, but Ino followed up saying that she had to leave the school some time in a more serious tone. June followed up on Levi's offer and said that she might, joking, but then reassured them that she was simply staying in Beacon. She added that she was going to rest in the break still. They trusted her and didn't bother her further about it, but Levi kept making jokes about June's work ethic with things saying that she's a workaholic. The break had come and the first two weeks were nothing special. June had enjoyed being able to relax with no one in the dorm. Before Summer came to get her for the city tour, Ozpin had called her up to his office. Unlike before, he gave her an idea about what he was going to ask. When she got up there, Oz had taken a big sip from his mug. Oz had started the conversation, asking again where she had came from and grew up. June, trusting Ozpin a little more, had told her about Oraculi and her mother, as well as her training. She didn't mention her silver eye training or her being a prodigy, she also never mentioned her mothers death. "It must've been tough to leave your parents, and here I thought you had jumped at the offer to come to Beacon because you had no one left," was Oz's response. "Yeah, it... was," June paused. "You're not telling me all of it are you." Oz said. June sighed, telling Ozpin the truth about her mother, and the condition her father was left in after. She didn't know why she opened up to Ozpin, but she ended telling him that was the truth. Ozpin now saw why she wanted to leave Vacuo without needing much thought. Ozpin offered that if she ever wanted to go back to Vacuo to see her father that he would see about getting a ride there as fast as he could. June had denied it, stating that she wasn't crazy about visiting him anytime soon. Ozpin wasn't trying to push her into anything, but warned her that she might regret not seeing her father every once in awhile. She just ignored him, asking if there was anything else he wanted. He didn't bother her about it anymore and dismissed her, but thought that she might be making a mistake...

**\- Chapter 3, An Interesting Tour -**

The weeks had gone by and before June knew it, she heard a knock at her dorm. This was bound to be Summer because this was day they would have their "tour." June opened the door wearing her nightgown, having just woke up. She opened the door to find Summer, ready to go, but she looked embarrassed at first. June, confused for a second, realized what the problem was. Her nightgown was more... revealing and she forgot about it when she answered the door. She quickly hid behind the door, said sorry, and went to get dressed. Ignoring what happened, June was ready and they both went to the landing area to get a ride down to Vale. Summer, getting over that incident, had started to warn June that she didn't really head down into the city too often. June said that she was just happy to get out of Beacon and didn't really care if they just walked around for some time. Summer told her that she could go to Vale without her, and June had told her that she wanted to get to know her better. Summer looked away for a second, blushing slightly at the remark. She wasn't used to getting a comment like that, but she got over it and they eventually got on an airship heading down to Vale.

They had touched down in Vale and they started to walk around. June wanted to go to Vale's museum, always wanting to learn more about where she was. Summer showed a little surprise, but agreed to going as she didn't remember the last time she went. It was also to show June the city, so she was going to go anywhere June had wanted. Summer didn't really understand how someone could walk around a museum for hours and find any enjoyment from it, but they started to talk about. Although Summer suggested giving the tour, she didn't have much of an idea of where to go for the visit. June didn't mind just walking around, though, so Summer didn't worry about a place to go. They talked and walked for awhile, June talking about her life in Vacuo. Summer had asked what made her choose Vale and by extension Beacon. She talked about Ozpin's help, but also added that she wanted to go to Vale after researching the schools and their environment. Summer thought it was nice that June chose Vale, but also remarked that, if it was her, she probably couldn't have left her parents at 15. June hadn't told her about her mother, so this also meant that she didn't tell her the state her father was in after Angelus' death. The more they walked, the more they talked, and this would end up being more of a bonding experience between the two of them than either of them were expecting. The talking was mostly Summer telling her where they were and describing it, but they would talk about themselves if they Summer wasn't explaining something. This showed that their personalities were very similar, showing the only difference was that Summer grew up in a city so she knew some social ques and would get embarrassed by things that June didn't understand. For example, June realized that Summer wasn't comfortable when she answered the door that morning, but still couldn't understand why. Although she was felt weird doing it, Summer tried to explain some things of these things to her, but June would take awhile to understand. June told her that she didn't understand, but that she tried. This made Summer feel better that she didn't feel the same embarrassment, and made her respect June more. She wasn't very social herself, anyway. In bringing up her father and his training, it reminded her of Summer's silver eyes. She got curious and decided asking a few questions that might help her determine if she knew her powers. June started by asking Summer's favorite color, which, go figure, was silver, if not implied from her hooded cloak. The next thing she added that even her eye color was silver, remarking it's an uncommon eye color. Summer thought she was saying she was wearing color contacts, but told her that she wasn't. Realizing that it went over her head and that she was confused instead of shocked by the question, she could now see Summer's reasoning for not hiding them, as she probably didn't know. This sparked something June hadn't felt in awhile: Protecting life and something close to her. Summer would be hunted without her knowing, but she stopped herself from thinking about that. Besides, Summer was showing to be a good Huntress.

There was a bar they were getting close to, and June thought it would be a good idea to find a place to sit. She recommended it, but Summer said that they couldn't in a confused manner. June, about to ask why, realized she wasn't in Vacuo anymore and that laws were enforced instead of the rule in Vacuo. She told Summer that the majority of bars and inns in Vacuo meant they were the only places to stay. Summer understood, as June told her that she left home when she was 15, and said that there were plenty of other public areas to visit in Vale. They stopped by a cafe close by to rest a little, and to get drinks. The two talked more, Summer revealing that she lived in the city. This got her talking about where Team STRQ lived, saying that Taiyang, or Tai, lives on the Island of Patch on the coast of Vale. The Branwen twins only answer was that they lived somewhere outside of Vale. While talking about that, the two were interrupted. Speak of the devil, Tai was in the cafe with them. Tai introduced himself to June and she did the same. She quickly realized that Tai was more socially active than Summer, to say the least, as he was more willing to get to know people than her. That included asking about where June came from, which she gave the same answer to him as she did Summer. Summer asked what he was doing in the city, thinking he was going to visit his family on Patch. He said he did, but that he always enjoyed going to the city and relaxing that way. He explained that without defenses like in the city, Grimm could still show up near their house, though it wasn't common. He also was still given chores that he tried to get away from. He then asked June if it was the same on Vacuo's outskirts. "Yeah," she said, "except remove the uncommon part of Grimm attacks." Tai went with that, and continued on. June swore he could've been a teacher with how he explained things, adding that he would make a talented Huntsman when they all graduated. Actually, when she thought about it, the sparring matches she saw with members of Team STRQ showed they were all exceptionally skilled. There were also rumors that Ozpin had taken a liking towards them. Granted, it wasn't really a rumor with Oz sending them on a mission before the second semester, with Freshmen usually only allowed on missions after the second semester.

Tai, after about an hour, said he was heading back home. The two girls decided they should leave, and June thought it would be a good idea for them to head home. Summer almost asked why, thinking they would spend most of the day in Vale. June then realized it was only noon, but asked Summer if there was anything else for them to do. "I guess not," Summer added, sounding sad about her comment. June asked about the change in attitude, and Summer started to say that, besides her team, June was the only person she had gotten to know so far in Beacon, even adding that Qrow and Raven haven't talked much too. June felt a little bad about it, but got an idea. She said how about they get dinner if she still wanted to hang out. Summer paused for awhile, looking embarrassed. June was confused about why she looked embarrassed, oblivious to the social cue that asking someone to dinner implied. "What's wrong," June broke the silence. She added that if Summer couldn't make it, it was fine. "No! It would just be weird," Summer said. June, still confused, said that it was no different from spending the day together. Summer admitted she was right, and finally had an answer, saying that it sounded fun. Summer said she would come by 6:30 PM. They split up, June heading back to Beacon to rest and Summer heading back home to do the same.

June was in the library reading some books when the time had come. She almost forgot, but she was already ready beforehand and headed down to the landing area. She found Summer there, looking like she was about to go get her. She found it odd that she was staying behind her cloak more than she was that morning. The two went down to Vale and Summer brought them to the restaurant she talked about before they went home. The name had stuck out to June at first, but she didn't give it much thought. When they got there, however, the thoughts she had for that second were confirmed. It looked fancy, but it also seemed expensive and it worried June thinking that she might not be able to afford her side of the bill. Summer, noticing a concerned June, asked what was wrong. June asked her how expensive it would be to eat there, but Summer told her not to worry as she checked the prices earlier. June felt better after that, and they went in. It was nice, but it wasn't too much on the fancy side of places, which finally put June at ease. They were seated and then ordered drinks, water for them both. They talked while they were ordering, and this let June catch a glimpse of what Summer had worn. She didn't pay much attention to it, but it was definitely different from what she wore that morning. The dinner had gone by fast and the two had talked for awhile, finishing dinner before they were done talking. June was confused by Summers slight change in talking, and this also seemed to make the mood feel different, but it was probably because of the place they were in too. June thought it was nice, but it seemed unnecessary. When they were done talking they payed the bill and left. However, Summer offered to pay all of it. It was only after some arguing that June convinced her that she could pay her part, but she still couldn't convince her to let her pay the full price for her food. They walked out and June had said goodbye to Summer, planning to leave the same way she did last time. "No, wait," Summer blurted out. When June looked back, Summer's cloak had moved back from her hand movements. This showed that she was wearing a black and silver dress. Things started to make sense for June now. Between the first embarrassment Summer showed when June asked about dinner and the extra politeness she showed, as well as the mood change, then June started to blush a little. "Oh," that's all June could say for a little while. After a minute of silence between them, June started to apologize for not understanding how weird it was for her to ask. "So, you didn't like the dinner," Summer added. "No," it was June's turn to fumble over her words and blush. "I liked the dinner, it's just... I didn't intend it to feel... like a... date," June struggled to get it out. Summer looked hurt at first, but she began to smile, and started to walk with June back to the airship heading for Beacon. June did feel bad, now understanding what Summer felt like in awkward situations. June saw that Summer was smiling, but, with June realizing that only then that she thought it as a date, she could tell that it was probably hollow. When they got there, June had blurted out what she was thinking. She told her and said she was sorry a near uncountable amount of times, adding that she really didn't know that if she knew, she would've made herself look good. She also added that she really liked it and that she wouldn't mind doing it again. After she stopped and they stood there for a couple times, Summer had surprised her. She leaned in and kissed her. Summer was hot rod, and then said goodbye. June only said OK and was basically in autopilot on her way back to Beacon. She was like this the day after as well...

**\- Chapter 4, The First Mission -**

A few days had passed since June's "tour" and the new semester had started. June kept to herself about what happened, but still sat next to Team STRQ with JULI. She felt awkward the first couple of days, but felt better after that. It was a week after the semester had started and June decided she would ask Summer what that day meant after she felt more comfortable. It turns out that Summer had felt bad for it, thinking that she didn't "swing that way" and that she forced it. June told her that she was fine with it and didn't mind, but was figuring things out. The two stayed friends, but June would soon made up her mind to be with Summer. As the semester went on, and mission after mission followed, Team STRQ proved themselves to be the best, but JULI was behind them. This meant that their first mission wasn't supposed to be as glamorous as some of STRQ's missions, much to the teams dismay.

JULI's first mission was to help a convoy transporting supplies to an outpost. The route was expected to be low on Grimm activity at that time. It was also longer than the usual route, but the supplies being brought weren't too important to rush. JULI departed from the school and were brought to the where the convoy would be leaving. The flight wasn't too long, and before they knew it they were on the way. The trip would take two days, one for getting there and the other for getting back. Almost nothing had happened on the way to the outpost, the occasional Beowolf attack from time-to-time. "Why did we have to get stuck with this," Ino said, sounding bored. "I think it's fine," Levi added, "It's a nice a break from all the work. Well, for us that is." They both looked at June, who was flipping through a textbook. She heard that, but kept on studying. Uruclay was also relaxing by tampering with his weapon. Ino and Levi brought up that even though they could relax a bit, they still had to keep an eye out just in case. June, hearing this, tipped the textbook down a bit. This revealed that her scroll was on, and it had camera views of the convoy to keep an eye out while she was studying. She sent the footage to the rest of them. They all thought they would be a worse team without her, but they didn't take offense to this. After a full semester with her, they knew she had the best intentions in mind, and they didn't mind being carried by her occasionally. She also never showed any intention of bragging about being better, telling them that she was happy to have skilled team members. Levi and Ino kept talking for the rest of the trip, taking out Grimm from time-to-time since they had the longer ranged weapons. In a continuation of their past conversation, Ino showed why she didn't like being sent on the mission. "I still think that STRQ gets too much attention from Ozpin. It's a little unfair," Ino started. "They do, but they are skilled enough to get through the missions they're sent on," Levi told his opinion, and he continued, "I can't say that I'm fine with it, but I think that we have to understand that they might be better than us." They all saw STRQ's fights and knew how skilled they were, but still didn't like the extra appreciation. All of them except June, who didn't really care about the team's performance. She was more occupied trying to better her own team and her own skills. As much as they didn't like the praise STRQ got, they still sat with them in lunch almost everyday and had gotten to be friends with half the team. They felt less menacing since they first met them, but the Branwen twins still kept quiet. Qrow, however, seemed to be talking a bit more. Ino stopped talking about them, as she liked Tai and didn't want to make them think she hated them.

After a couple more hours, the convoy reached its destination and began to unload the supplies. Ino, Levi, and Uruclay helped unpack the supplies while June reported activity to the standby Huntsman protecting the outpost. June reported the activity, confirming with footage that Grimm activity was still low. The Huntsman, who looked a little old, believed her and came out to help with the unpacking. June kept an eye out for Grimm. Once the supplies were confirmed, June and the Huntsman went into the outpost to confirm the supplies. The rest of JULI kept watch with the other guardsmen. Ino noticed it first, and then Levi and Uruclay did as well. There were shadows moving over them, and when they looked up they saw Grimm flying high in the sky. A guardsman explained that they didn't attack, and that, besides it being a small outpost that wasn't high priority, it was part of the reason that air transport wasn't allowed there. However, the Grimm weren't in a good mood today, and they had started an attack. It was a pack of Manticores and the Sphinx alpha. Before the guardsman of the sector could alert the outpost, he was killed by a Manticore. JULI had barely enough time to start fighting back. The Manticores would prove a problem, but the Sphinx was going to be the biggest problem of all. Ino had slid under a Manticore, took out its legs with _Muerte Gris'_ blade, and killed it by firing at its throat at point blank range. Uruclay and Levi, knowing Ino was capable of fighting for herself, worked together to take out some of the Manticores themselves. The two had a technique against Grimm with what seemed to be heads. Levi would stun the beast with shock dust rounds, and while it stumbles, Uruclay would rush in and cut its legs or disable it more in another way. Then, Uruclay would use the _Geheimnisvoller Wald_ to cut the head off the beast. This worked a couple times, but the rest would be taken out by shear force, or another strategy. Ino and Levi would occasionally combine each others firepower to overpower a Manticore. After a couple minutes, the Manticores were killed off and the Sphinx was the only one left. It would, however, prove to be a major challenge for them all. Even with Levi's largest dust rounds and combined firepower with Ino, the beast would only be stunned for under second. This wasn't nearly enough time to give Uruclay an opening. They would have to get close without being hit, which proved difficult because of the Sphinx's tail. The tail, which seemed to be a Grimm of its own, would prevent any attack from behind. They came up with a strategy. Levi would provide firing support with _Rote Bedrohung's_ most powerful attack: A charged dust shot that took a lot of ammo but packed a powerful punch. He could use it a few times before he ran dry. While he would start the initial fire, Ino and Uruclay would flank it from both its sides while it was stunned. The two started to charge the Sphinx, and right before it could attack them, Levi fired. The beast recoiled from the blast and appeared stunned. Both Ino and Uruclay started to attack its sides. However, before they could do any major damage, the tail had attacked Ino. She was forced to dodge, and the Sphinx had recovered from the blast, forcing Uruclay off of it. They expected this, but before Levi could follow up, the Sphinx had launched a fireball at Levi. None of them knew it could do that, so Levi was caught off guard and took a direct hit. His aura was drained and was almost completely depleted. Ino and Uruclay got too distracted, and the Sphinx had tail whipped them both as a follow up. They were knocked into a wall, and their auras were brought down below half. They were taught only a little about Sphinxes, the knowledge being from some studying themselves, they weren't taught in class about what they could do yet. Although Uruclay and Ino were able to get back up and fight, it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to win with just the two of them. Ino started to head into the outpost, telling Uruclay to stay far from the Sphinx while she got June and the Huntsman there. Before Ino could go, however, the Sphinx took off and landed in her path. She was struck by another tail whip. Even with some speed training provided by June, she wasn't fast enough to dodge. She was knocked out of commission and Uruclay was the last one able to fight. He would need range to try to avoid it, so _Geheimnisvoller Wald's_ true function would come in handy. The scythe was able to cover its blade, making it a handle, and the normal handle would become a gun barrel. This gave the weapon a ranged attack and let him attack from range. He couldn't keep his range for long, though, and the Sphinx exploited this. The Sphinx took off and disappeared in the sky. He didn't know where it went, checking his surroundings. The Sphinx rushed him from above, and he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time. He was preparing to try and fight back, hoping that he could hold it off. It would be futile, though. That's when a blue blur surrounded the Sphinx. It recoiled from the force, sending it into the ground next to Uruclay. Its body lay lifeless as it started to disappear. Uruclay, confused what happened, turned around to see June helping Levi up. June had taken it out in under a couple seconds. Even the Huntsman there wasn't responsible for helping, as he came 10 seconds too late. They knew she was skilled, but she never showed this much ability before. Ino, having fought with her in the Emerald Forest, was also shocked by the skill present, and realized she held back in the forest.

June helped them all up and they had departed back to Vale the next day. Ino, Uruclay, and Levi had been silent the majority of the trip. They were still shocked from the near death experience they had, and June's almost terrifying abilities. Ino decided to break the silence, asking June why she never decided to show them her skill. Her response was simple: She never needed to before, and that there was no reason to show it without needing to. She also thought there was a chance that it could demoralize them if she did show it off for no reason. Her intentions were revealed, and they saw her point. They were still concerned about it, thinking that she wasn't being completely honest with them. After all, this was more impressive than beating Kody the way she did. They had gotten back to Vale and were on there way back to Beacon when Ozpin had contacted them to ask about the mission. June told him everything went fine until a Sphinx and its pack attacked. She said she would explain in detail after he watched footage of the fight. The fight was recorded by a nearby camera. Oz saw everything that happened, and he was impressed. June had surprised him yet again, but JULI as a team had showed their skill fighting the Manticores, and he was impressed by them. However, he called June to his office, alone. June waited, knowing how long it took to ride the elevator up. Ozpin went over the report June wrote, talking about the mission. He explained that he would let JULI go on more dangerous missions since proving their capabilities. He then told June not to worry, reasoning that she could help them train to get better. Oz, however, had told June that he was planning on trying something new with her. He would start sending his most capable students on solo missions. These missions were not required to pass the semester, the way team missions were, but could be used as extra credit. The jobs might also give pay for the student. He wanted June to be the first student to do this, but would wait till her second year to send her on one of these solo missions. He also explained that these would be mostly stealth missions where a team would be too many people. June told Oz she would look it over, and headed back down to the dorms. She kept what Ozpin had said to her about solo missions to herself, but she gladly told them that they would be allowed on higher priority missions. Their mood was brightened by this and they were excited to see what the next mission would be.

Team JULI would continue to go on missions, always one step behind STRQ, though. Other than their first mission, the rest of the semester was uneventful for JULI, and was uneventful in general. There was drama, as usual, but June would ignore it and help her teammates get through it if they were involved in anything. She would also help them study and train, but not too much to let them catch a break. June would start to spend time with Summer outside of lunch and in the free time they got after school. Summer told June that she wanted to spend time with the rest of her team during summer break, and revealed that Raven and Qrow, mostly Qrow, had started to talk more and more. Tai was the reason for this, as he would pester them a lot about who they were. Summer thought it would be great for the team to relax together, which would help them all bond. June thought it was smart, and said that she might take her idea. Summer also added that she wanted to spend more time with her. June blushed for a second, but then said that it was a good idea. June had turned 17 nearing the end of the semester, but she only told Summer her birthday after it had happened. "Why didn't you tell me," Summer said, seeming a little mad. June told her she wasn't used to celebrating her birthday, so she didn't feel she wanted to. Summer got a little mad, but angrily told her she would throw her an amazing birthday next year. June wasn't going to stop her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to anyway. The Semester had ended and the first year of June's time at Beacon had ended...

**\- Chapter 5, Bonding Time -**

Summer had begun, and, with it looking like her winter break, June was alone in the dorm. However, JULI planned on spending time together more into the break. In the meantime, June planned to get a job. After looking for jobs inside the city, she decided that none of them would be a good choice for her, so she went with Huntsmen jobs. When she looked into, it seemed that she needed a way to prove she was a Huntsman, unlike the outskirts of Vacuo. To move around this, she asked Ozpin for a way past this. Having knowing her skill and his guessing that she had silver eyes, he had given her a new scroll that had a special pass that allowed her to take jobs. With this, she had made an income the first couple of weeks. After that, JULI started to spend time together. Ino had came back first, then Levi and Uruclay. There wasn't much to do, but they decided that playing games, board and video games, was something fun to do while they figured out things they would all like to do. They would also go to places in Vale, like the movies, and they would also go to parties on campus. June didn't really want to go to the parties, but she wanted to spend time with her teammates. They weren't very fun for her, as even though they were full of in-training Huntsmen, they still acted a little irresponsible. Surprisingly, Uruclay actually tried talking to some people there. June was also hit on and flirted with quite a bit which, again, only made her remember the worst parts of Vacuo. She would either ignore them or tell them that she was only 17. This got a compliment about her looks and height, but they would eventually leave. Some of them would stay, not believing her and doubting that she was a student. After some more ignoring on her side, they would leave. While June told them they should have their fun, the rest of JULI didn't want to keep forcing June to go to these parties.

Before the last couple of weeks, June and Ino spent time together. This involved Ino introducing June to her friends that she had outside of Beacon. This involved some of her friends that preferred messing around with June's hair than getting to know her. She made friends with some of them, but probably wouldn't talk to them without Ino being there. Ino mentioned a party that a majority of friends were going to, which was also going to be hosted by someone she indirectly knew. She didn't plan to mention this to June, but she over heard her talking about it. June brought up that she knew to Ino, but said that she would go and try to meet people. Ino got excited and used this as a way to get June to go to a salon, but she warned June that it was going to be big. She was told she didn't mind, adding that trying to get to know people outside of Beacon would be a good idea. June was already attractive without needing much work and makeup, so Ino was curious what she would look like with makeup. After their visit and some help from Ino, June had gotten makeup, her hair styled, nails done, given a dress by Ino, and more. The dress, which Ino got for her for the occasion, was a vibrant blue, form fitting dress which was also backless. It revealed June's near perfect hourglass figure, and Ino had almost blushed when she saw her in it. Anyway, Ino found that the hardest part of doing this was not getting her to wait for everything to be done, but asking her to remove her hooded cloak. After about 30 minutes of Ino trying to convince her to take it off, she complied. She left it at her dorm, hidden well making sure that no one would find it if someone broke in. When they got to the party, it was as big as Ino warned. June was already getting hit on and flirty comments before she even got into the place. Ino, having gotten ready with her, was getting jealous about it, but focused on helping her socialize. When they got in, June felt uneasy about the people. They reminded her more of people from Vacuo, with drinking and partying accustomed to some of the citizens. She started to realize that Beacon students were more responsible than she though. She did try to talk to people, though, with Ino helping her around. Ino, however, got carried away and went off to find her friends that were there. After avoiding some rather grabby people, and not being able to find Ino, she found a place that wasn't as rowdy. Who she found, though, truly surprised her. Summer was sitting with Raven, doing nothing. Summer saw June and the other way around. Both of them were surprised to see that they were there, and they started to talk. Summer was very red when she first saw June, but ignored it while they talked. Summer heard why she was there and June learned how she got there. STRQ was spending time together and Tai had brought up the party. Apparently he knew the person hosting, who was more popular than June thought, so he wanted it to be a way for the more antisocial members of STRQ to socialize. Qrow was even walking around with Tai and socializing, but Summer stayed with Raven who thought it was stupid. Summer asked June why she wasn't wearing her cloak, and June told her that Ino said that she should take it off for looks. Summer said that she liked the cloak, but complimented her current dress. She also added, blushing, that she looked very stunning. June also blushed while giving a thank you. They talked for the rest of the time they were there, but they left the party and found a quiet place to talk more. The more they talked, the more they payed attention to what each other were wearing. Compliment after compliment had led to flirting and that had led to them kissing. Eventually they were flat out making out. While Summer was on top of June, June's scroll had gone off. She checked and saw that it was Ino and freaked out a bit. In fact, they both got a little scared, remembering why they were there in the first place. They went back and found each others team leaving, and were embarrassed when they realized Summer, when she got there, wasn't wearing lipstick. While they were alone, it seemed Ino and Tai found each other and also got scared when they realized they couldn't find the two people they brought. Everything turned out fine, though Ino didn't get to party as hard because of the June. She enjoyed it though, and was happy June had tried to do something different

The rest of the summer wasn't as interesting as that night, Uruclay, Ino and Levi spending time in Vale while June spent her time outside of Vale moving between different outposts to complete jobs. June was accustomed to this nomadic style of moving, being one of the reasons she's would make a great Huntress. Ozpin kept an eye on her through her jobs, needing to see what type of mission she excelled in. He found it difficult to determine what she was best at, as she showed equal skill on every job she completed. Although she showed very little social interaction when she was simply clearing out Grimm for an outpost, she showed much more interaction with clients when it involved their protection. This included her calming a wife who was worried about moving through the outskirts of Vale with her husband, and another time where the client, a strong looking delivery man, had thought she was too young to protect him and his cargo. She stayed quiet and didn't interrupt him while on the trip, the only thing she did was to quickly wipe any Grimm that came too close, her job. She had earned his respect and he even complimented her by saying that some graduated Huntsmen didn't scale up to her. After evaluating the different jobs she did and reports about what happened, Oz had decided that she would be fit to go on this special solo mission for good. Before the beginning of the new year, Ozpin had requested June come to his office. He told her that she would be going on the mission, but to be prepared for one to come at random. She obliged, but then thought about her team. She agreed to this mission awhile back, and although she knew her team well then, she got to know them more and had more time to think. She told Oz her concern, but he said that the choice was hers. After some thinking, she made up her mind and told him that she didn't want to go on the mission after all. Oz simply smiled and told her that he wouldn't consider anymore solo missions. She left that office confused by his reaction, as she expected him to show disappointment or even resistance to her changing her mind. It only confused her more when she thought about it, thinking that not being able to even try something knew would be disappointing. She was happy anyway, glad that she could think about her team instead of for her own benefit. She was able to overcome change, and already wanted winter break when the new year started...

**\- Chapter 6, The 30th Vytal Festival -**

Although the first semester of their second year wasn't differing from the norm, JULI was put under immense pressure in the second semester. The reason? The 30th biennial Vytal Festival Tournament and celebration. This one, however, was even more pressuring than normal because it was supposed to be held last year. It was delayed because a large collection of aerial Grimm had prevented the moving of the tournament arena. To some this came as a shock because it was protected by the Atlas military, but most of the residents of Vacuo, the city holding the 30th festival, weren't surprised by it at all. Most of them were surprised that it took 60 years before something like this would happen. This delay would lead to two Vytal Festivals being held in two years to even the numbers. This only put more pressure on JULI, and the rest of the Huntsmen in Beacon. They were all being given far more extensive training than they were their first year and with teams that helped train each other, like JULI, there was more pressure on each teams best. Only a couple weeks before the end of the year Beacon students who were going to compete in the tournament were being sent to Vacuo. Team JULI and STRQ were one of the two teams out of eight set to compete for Vale. June was happy with her team that they could compete, but she kept to herself that she didn't want to go back to Vacuo. The fly there had been a couple of days long, with JULI and STRQ celebrating that they both could compete. On that note, Summer threw June a surprise birthday since she would turn 18 while flying to Vacuo. Summer wanted to make it special, but felt there was only so little that she could bring on the ship besides what their teams were packing. Even with that, the rest of JULI had all gotten one gift each for her and STRQ, as a team, would give her a gift. The surprise was done near dinner, and they had celebrated with a birthday cupcake. June went with it and then they started to give her her gifts. Summer gave her the gift that STRQ pitched in for, which was a new hooded-cloak. "The rest of Team STRQ pitched in for the material, and then I sewed it for you," Summer added. June sat silent for a bit, looking at and holding the blue cloak. After that, she told Summer thank you, holding back tears. Not only had it been clear to both of them that they liked each other, now she was starting to remind June of her mother. She moved on from that, getting to what her teammates had given her. Levi and Uruclay went with a theme, getting her kits that would allow her to clean and tamper with her weapon more easily. Then, Ino gave her something that almost scared her. They were color contacts that came with a kit that helped manage them. Ino joked that her red eyes never went with her character and that blue eyes would be more fitting. June laughed it off, but was worried a little. However, she finally had different contacts than the ones her dad had. She realized that she had more hate for them than she thought, so new ones seemed to be nice. The rest of the flight wasn't very exhilarating.

When the ships had landed in Shade, both teams had to settle in the new dorms that they were staying in for the time they were. "Home-sweet-home," was the first thing June said when they got there, but it was very sarcastic. After living in Vale for almost two years she had found more distaste for the city. However, the Shade students were more hospitable to her team and STRQ, and this trend would probably continue as more Beacon students arrived. Part of it was respecting that they were picked for the tournament, but it was also in part of the Great War. Although it had ended and the festival was to support unity among the kingdoms, Shade students were still aware of which side each kingdom was on. Another reason for some Shade students respecting June specifically was that she was from Vacuo. Her skilled reputation had spread there because of that fact. Another part was that it was found out that she was the wandering "Huntress" that protected the outskirts, so students that came from the outskirts had a respect for her. The rest of JULI, however, were a little worried about the odd looks they were getting. They asked June about it, and she explained that they were lucky nobody was saying anything. She also added that the looks were a way of showing respect, as an Atlas team walking by had proved to them. The team had been scolded walking through the school, with them being stopped and challenged by another team. JULI started to feel better. There was one outlier, though. She was a Shade student named December Folie, who had long, dark red hair that went almost to her waist and had crimson eyes. She was one of the best in the school, being in one of the teams chosen to fight for Vacuo. She knew who June was and stopped her while she was walking to her dorm. They made death glares at each other, and June realized the challenge. December, who stood a couple inches lower than her, shoved past her and whispered something for her to hear, "Your're a disgrace." June ignored it, but JULI was worried about the encounter. June told them not to worry and focus on why they were there. The festivals tournament wasn't being held for another week because of the preparations the Amity Colosseum required. The festival was being celebrated in Vacuo, though, so JULI and STRQ wanted to enjoy the festivities. June had always wanted to go to the Vytal Festival, but now she didn't know with her feelings for Vacuo. She went with her team and enjoyed what she could. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, until Summer asked her a question that she didn't want to be asked. "Don't you want to see your parents," was the question she asked. June never thought she hear that, but what surprised her even more is that she felt she had to see her father. June told her she didn't know, but Summer had pushed her to see him. June explained to her that she needed 4 days to travel to where she lived, and back. Summer understood, but still wanted to go with her. She also understood that she would be leaving her team for that time. She was confident in her team, though, and trusted that they could enjoy themselves and that they were trained well. June decided that she would bring her. The trip was grueling for Summer, not being used to the desert heat. June, however, was determined to get this trip over with, so she went as fast as she could go with a camel. Then, they got to that house. June almost cried when she stopped next to the tombstone. Summer was confused by what it was, or who it was for. When June had keeled down to place flowers there, Summer asked who it was for. June had wiped away the dust from the title to reveal the name 'Angelus'. "Who... is it," Summer had broken the silence. "My mother," June responded. Summer was shocked, now realizing why June may not have wanted to come home. June started to head towards the house, which looked as though it was abandoned. Now Summer had started to feel bad and had many questions, but she saved them for later. June told Summer to wait outside while she got her father. Summer waited and waited until it had been 30 minutes. Summer had thought something was wrong and decided to see what was wrong. Before she could go in, however, June came out. She looked as though she had been crying before she came back down, and told Summer that she should head back to the camel. While Summer was heading back and started waiting near the camel, June had taken fire dust crystals and powder left by her father and spread it around. Then, she reread the piece of paper and cried even more than she did when she first found it. Summer asked if she could see her father when she came back. June said nothing, got on the camel, and started to head back. Summer didn't want to ask anything until she saw a house fire start. Summer didn't understand what was happening and asked June, scared what was happening to the house. "He's dead," June had said at a near inaudible volume. Summer understood now, and June started to cry. Summer, even through the heat, comforted June all the way back to Shade.

The trip had only taken 3 days, and June hadn't talked in the time leading up to the tournament. Whenever JULI would train together in that time, she was harsher than usual. Then the first day of the tournament had come. As much as June was going through, she was able to lighten herself and motivate her team before the first match. The first match, which was JULI vs an Atlas team, CAMO, was going to be important for JULI's reputation in Shade. June didn't care, as she never had any reason to go back after that festival, but the rest of her team didn't know how to feel about it. Both the teams had lined up in the center of the coliseum, waiting for the announcers to present the environments they would be fighting in. The two areas that were selected were the desert and geyser arena. Although this would imply a home field advantage for June, the Atlas military had trained in many artificial environments. June had known this, and gave warnings to the rest of JULI and STRQ in upcoming fights against Atlas students not to underestimate them. JULI kept their composure and the fight was started. JULI moved to the desert area while CAMO had moved to follow up on them. JULI had been the closest to the desert, so they had more cover against CAMO. Ino and Levi had used suppressing fire to prevent forward advancements from CAMO. Levi had stopped firing, CAMO assuming that they were planning something else that required him. Their flank, however, wasn't an issue because JULI had made the mistake of being almost completely in the open, other than the rocks they had found for cover. The leader of CAMO, Cernal Cloak, had done research on every team from each academy that was selected. He had access to some mission data that revealed their weapons capabilities. He was still concerned, though, as June had revealed next to nothing about herself on missions and in her reports. One of the only things he knew was that she was able to move at fast speeds, showing him that she focused on speed tactics. He did know about Levi's weapon, the _Rote Bedrohung_, had a charged shot that would be able to wipe out cover they were hiding behind. His guessing was proven right, and Levi had come out while Ino ducked to reload to fire that shot. He fell for the trap, and Cloak used his weapon, the _Liberation's_, anti-gravity deflection field to fire the shot back at their cover. Levi and Ino stayed behind the cover and had nothing to stop the shot from connecting. The destruction had brought up a cloud of dust, which CAMO's members that had firing capabilities had fired into to prevent movement of JULI. The dust had cleared and JULI was gone. Before it could fully clear, there was a blur behind Cloak and, before he could react, June had kicked him into the air and sent him flying into the far wall. This had knocked him out of the battle by ring out, and the crowd had gone wild about June's impressive appearance. The announcers had started to break down what had happened. JULI had appeared to take the better place, but CAMO's sudden advancement had played into their plan. June was no fool, and researched the team the same way he did for them. However, Cloak hadn't tried to hide his weapons abilities, so June had strategically planned around what their key player would do. She used her semblance, which was unknown to them, to quickly get behind them without alerting them. With most Atlas teams, the team leader was the key person, this one being no different than the others. The rest of CAMO were eliminated rather quickly, Levi and Ino taking out their supporting fire, Uruclay turning his scythe blade into a handle to pull another member into a geyser and the last being another quick ring out by June. The first explosive round was concluded, and the crowd had cheered JULI very clearly.

JULI had to wait 4 days until the beginning of the duo rounds of the tournament, 4 battles taking place everyday. STRQ had eliminated the Shade team they were paired with, and JULI was there to support them in the crowd. STRQ's fight was on the second day, so the teams had spent the rest of the time together in the festival. Summer didn't bring up her and June's visit to her home. June had decided to look for someone, and brought Summer with her. The last day of fights in the first round, June and Summer went back to the fighting arena to look for June's somebody. This someone was March, who was very passionately cheering for the Shade team in the last fight of the day when she saw June. They hugged and June introduced March to Summer. March was uneasy, but June told her that she was part of one team sent to fight from Beacon. March warmed up to her quickly, adding that she recalled seeing them win against a Shade team. Summer got a little scared, but March was joking and laughed when she freaked out. June was happy to see her friend again, and remembered what she miss if she never came back to Vacuo. Then, another surprise had shown up. March had gone to the festival with her family. Amica had seen June for the first time in years, and he had much to say. He treated her with respect, as one Huntsman should to another. August and May had been there as well, with May not being able to enjoy herself watching the fights. She said hello to June and June said it back. June spent the rest of the day with March and her family, and she even joined them in dinner. They caught up on everything, mostly June to Amica as March had been using the CCT tower to talk to June every once in awhile. Amica was impressed to hear how well she was doing, between taking Huntsmen jobs during breaks and her team showing much skill in their first fight. After the dinner, they had bid each other a goodbye and they promised to watch all the matches she would be in.

The next day held the first 4 matches of round 2, or the duos round. Ino and June, who were chosen out of JULI to compete, would be the first match of the second day. Summer and Raven were chosen out of STRQ to move on, and they had beaten a duo from Atlas. June and Ino were set to compete against a duo from Haven. Yet again, the contestants were lined up opposite of each other and the fighting environments would be randomized and picked. The 4 environments were the Obsidian Glass Fields, which was almost completely flat with some hilly elements to it that provided little cover, the Ice Fields, Grass Fields and a broken down urban area. The timer started to count down until the starting sound had gone off. Right before the Haven students could get off initial dust fire on JI, June had grabbed Ino and the two vanished. The Haven duo set out and started to cut the tall grass in the fields because they saw movement in them. However, the other kept an eye on the environments around them, making sure that they weren't attempting to flank them. One of their team members had watched the fight between JULI and CAMO, warning them that June appeared to possess fast speed. This had explained their sudden disappearance at the beginning of the battle. While they were checking the grass, a sudden hail of fire had bombarded their position from the urban sector. They were able to find cover in the Ice, but then the assault had stopped. One of them peaked cautiously, but they weren't fired at when they came up from cover. That's when they noticed that that there was what appeared to be a blue cape coming from a covered part of the Obsidian Glass Fields. They decided that it was June and defeating her would call for an easy victory, so they moved to the fields. The girl had stayed out in the ice just in case it was a trap and to provide support if Ino showed up again. They were right. It seemed the Obsidian Glass had a secret: Gravity was wonky because of anti-gravity dust that controlled it. The advancing student found this out quickly as he started to float without control, and he was confused by why June wasn't responding to the change, not knowing that her weapon used anti-gravity dust. June came out of cover and exposed herself to the support who was in the Ice Fields, but before she could fire, Ino had appeared behind her and knocked her out when her guard was down. This meant that she was considered defeated and that the other Haven student was the last one left. With him being stuck in the air, June eliminated him swiftly with one kick to get him out of the ring, which was starting to become a staple of hers. The crowd had cheered once more for June and Ino.

The next day was a break to let winning teams pick their finalist, and give some time for people to put in extra training or rest. The 8 winning duos had selected their final competitors, Team STRQ selecting Summer and JULI picking June for Vale, Haven had one team that made it, Atlas pulling 3 and Shade got 2 in. It wasn't surprising to figure out that December was one of the contestants in the finals. Each of the 4 fights were going to take place one day at a time, the first fight taking place between Summer and an Atlas finalist. Summer had won, but it wasn't easy for her. June helped her relax once the fight had ended, and also celebrated the win. The fight for the next day would be chosen after each fight. After Summers fight, June was chosen to fight... December. The crowd had had a mini cheer simply for this match up, as it was no secret that the two were among the most skilled to be in the tournament that year. Although June wasn't cocky, she was always confident in her abilities, so she didn't freak about the pairing the same way others did when they were paired against Decembers team. JULI and STRQ believed in June, but December was one of the people that everyone had researched because they were scared. They all had an idea of where they had stood in skill, and it seemed they were equals.

The next night had come quick for many, with the Amity Colosseum being more packed than any other fight before. Even some Haven and Atlas students had tuned in to see the fight, as they were curious what was going to happen too. June and December had came up to the final ring, which started to rise once they both were on the stage. The countdown had begun and the crowd was roaring with yells to hurry and start it. December had shown her battle gear, which was onyx, spiked armor that would deter close contact. What most people didn't know, is that December would fight even more seriously than she had before. This was because of her distaste of June, which came from her originally leaving Vacuo. December was very patriotic and found anyone who left to be deserters. The clock hit 0 and December had showed her speed, which led her to almost speed blitz June. Not even Oraculi was that fast. December took a slash with her weapon, the _Resurgens Daemon, _which was a smaller than average great-sword that made it lighter. June flipped upside down and used the sword as a base to push herself into December, who was knocked back. June glanced to check her aura on her scroll, a natural thing she did, but the result surprised her. Even with the small use of her semblance her aura was drained farther than usual. This led to some theories, but she manage to figure out a function of _Resurgens Daemon_. The weapon had a way to siphon aura on contact, an excellent counter to faster combatants that tried to use her weapon against her. For the first time in the tournament, June had decided to bring out _Angeli Cadunt_. The crowd was put into a flurry over this, and Amica even started to cheer for June as this would be the first time he would see the weapon used. Decembers plan, however, was ruined. She was banking on the fact that June wouldn't be able to figure out her weapons function that soon. They started to circle the ring, with December making petty comments about June's leaving of Vacuo. This wouldn't bother June, but with recent events coming back into memory, she found that the comments were getting to her. June had enough, and fell for her taunting. She charged first and the two started to clash weapons. They matched each others speed, but June had realized a problem she didn't have often: She had natural barriers on her semblance. The only way she could start to outrun December was to break those barriers, but she didn't know how. This thinking and Decembers taunting had dulled her speed, and she was able to get an overhead slash on June that would've knocked her out. One of her semblance barriers could be broken by being put under pressure, which this attack had done. June was able to catch _Resurgens Daemon_ with _Angeli Cadunt's_ chain. Although December wasn't expecting her sudden burst of speed, she now knew that June couldn't keep a consistent speed faster than hers. She was in a struggle with June, but December had caught her off guard. All of sudden _Resurgens Daemon_ had ignited and instantly grew hot enough to burn through the chain. It snapped. June naturally dodged to the other end of the ring. She kept her cool about her weapon breaking, but one last taunt had done the trick. "You should've never come back. You're parents wouldn't want to see your disgraceful self." June, like her chain, had snapped for the first time in years. She did something that showed that she wasn't the same. She started to laugh and laugh and laugh. The crowd was silent, even December had to hold in some fear by June's sudden mood change. June had instantly moved in on December. She was blitzed and too slow to react. She was sent flying across the ring, but was able to catch herself with her sword. She recovered quickly and saw that June was walking towards her. She needed to keep her range, as June had just shown that she was far faster than she was before. _Resurgens Daemon_ had an ability to fire high caliber dust rounds, but when the first shot had appeared to connect, it only phased through June. She now understood how to get rid of her barriers, and had created several afterimages. Now December wasn't sure if she could win. Every afterimage she shot had only went through. June then revealed a function that she hadn't used with _Angeli Cadunt_ since she was first training herself on how to use it. The 2 handles had ejected the excess chain, and deployed a beam of white light from both handles. _Angeli Cadunt_ was able to produce a saber with light dust crystals. June appeared before December again and instantly disarmed her of _Resurgens Daemon_. She then released an attack that involved hundreds of slashes against Decembers aura. Right before the finish, however, June stopped. December showed pure shock and confusion, but the ring had started to lower and June was heading out. The announcers, who almost forgot to announce what had happened, had stated that June's semblance overuse had caused her aura to drop below the required 15% and above to stay in. December had won. The crowd was indifferent, not knowing what just happened, but they eventually started to cheer and boo equally. December didn't care if she won or not, as she was just frozen still.

The rest of the festival June kept to herself. Amica had felt personally responsible about the chain not being strong enough, so he said that he would repair it before she left, telling her an idea he had. Although Summer tried to comfort June, it would be some time before June felt perfectly OK again. The tournament had ended, also marking the end of the festival. The results were in, with Summer winning for Vale, December winning for Vacuo, and two Atlas students winning the last two matches. Everyone was rewarded with a medal based on which place they were in. June was able to get herself to talk to Amica and March before she left for Vale. To help her mood, March was very proud to tell her that she had gotten into Shade. June was happy for her, and said that she would make an amazing Huntress. Amica had also handed her a fixed _Angeli Cadunt_, sending her a message on her scroll that included new schematics. Amica would miss June, but he understood if she never came back to Vacuo. When JULI had packed up and started to head for the departing area with STRQ, December had stopped them. Just like before she got close to June, but she just put her closed fist in June's hand and walked off. She gave her something. It was a note and the medal that December had received for winning their final match. The note had only said, "You deserve it." June felt better the rest of the way back to Vale, seeing what was new about Angeli Cadunt. The chain, which seemed to be more of a rod now, appeared to be locked in place when idle, but when activated it would separate into smaller cylinders that were refined magnetic dust crystals. This meant that, if the cylinders were ever separated, it could come back together on command. She showed Summer the improved weapon and she thought it was really cool, adding that it made her weapon even more unique. With that, June had felt better on her way back to Vale...

**\- Chapter 7, Uruclay, The Tactician -**

JULI and STRQ would be sent to compete again in the 31st Vytal Festival Tournament in their third year. Half of JULI, which included in June and Uruclay, would find themselves wanting to go to Atlas more than they wanted to go to Vacuo. Uruclay's reason, however, was that he was more interested in the Atlesian air forces than he was anything else. Uruclay was highly interested in ships, air and navy. In battle strategy classes, he excelled in the navigation of ships and war strategies. His own teachers would tell you that he was more comfortable with ships than he was people, which would make anyone think he was from Atlas instead of Vale. Another way he showed his skills was by taking part in weekend tournaments of _Remnant: The Game_. When he could pick the Atlas side, he was near unbeatable using the kingdoms military. These tournaments and his grades had gotten the attention of an Atlas Specialist, Album Nix, and she planned to contact him when he would attend the Vytal Festival Tournament.

JULI would've had the same procedure heading to Atlas as they did Vacuo, but Album had requested that the team be flown in sooner than usual to meet with Uruclay. JULI was only told that someone had wanted them to see Atlas sooner, so they were being brought to Atlas early. Summer was disappointed that she wouldn't be there for June's birthday, but she was able to get over it for the time being. The whole team was excited about being in Atlas, with Ino having a little excitement about getting something STRQ didn't. The city was truly unique, most notably was the fact that Atlas itself was a floating island powered by dust. Uruclay had immediately wanted to see about visiting the Atlesian airfield, but after an hour of settling in to their new dorm, Uruclay had been told a Specialist had wanted him in their office. His scroll was provided the location and he was told to be there ASAP. The rest of JULI didn't question it, the only one being Levi who asked where he had to go. He told him and he let him off. After about a half-a-mile walk, Uruclay had reached Album's office. She would've usually been more angry with her subordinates not listening to the "ASAP" part of her message, but Uruclay wasn't a subordinate. He did, however, stand attention in her presence and showed the same attention and respect as though he was a subordinate. "No need for the formalities," Album had started, "take a seat." Uruclay listened, and had taken a seat opposite of her. "To clear up any questions about your early arrival," she continued, "I was the one who requested that you would come here. I am well aware of Team JULI's skill in combat, and it is impressive. However, you were the tipping point for my decesion to get JULI here early." Uruclay could hide his emotions easily, Levi commenting that his poker face was used in more things than just poker, but he was curious by what she meant. "I'm sorry, but could you clarify what that means," Uruclay had asked. She answered, "What I'm saying, is that your grades in naval and air navigation had gotten my attention, and now it has gotten the attention of the General." Even Uruclay had slight examples of surprise on his face. He never thought that he be noticed by the Atlesian Military, it was partly the reason he became a Huntsmen instead. Album noticed his shock and curiosity, and went on, "In that light, we're willing to provide a position in the Atlas military to allow your strategy skills to grow. This will require more discussion, but for now I'll let you settle in and we'll resume this in two days. You're dismissed." Uruclay had stood up, saluted and walked back to the dorm. He was very happy about this, but he tried not to think about it too much, so it wouldn't be distracting for the next couple of days.

The next day, JULI decided to head into the main city to see what Atlas was like. Although they were there only a half week sooner than contesting teams would be arriving, there were still some parts of the festival being prepared because they were meant for the tournament. Uruclay wanted to visit the airfields and see if any tours were being provided for ships. Levi would usually be the one to go with him, but he didn't like forcing Levi to do this sort of stuff. Levi wasn't too interested in the weapon or technological part of his job, reasoning that if something got the job done, it was good enough. Surprisingly, June had agreed to go with him. It wasn't a secret between them that they were the two who cared more for weapons, but they also weren't a common pair even on the same team. June was interested in the ships, though, as she found interest in the Atlas tech for being very advanced. It turns out that tours were provided for older ships that were put out of commission. The tour was basic, and although Uruclay found it interesting, he still had some disappointment that he couldn't look at the more advanced airships that were being used in the current fleet. June had kept to herself what she thought of the tour. As much as the two had some shared interests, she almost never expressed her own feelings to anyone. The only person that he could guess she opened up to is Summer, but that was still a guess on his part. The pair met up with Levi and Ino, who expressed they had a great time visiting an amusement park set up for the festival. JULI would spend the rest of the day exploring Atlas, finishing the day by finding a place to eat. After that, they went back to the dorms to rest.

The next day had come, but Uruclay had already needed to discuss with Album. He told the rest of JULI that this would happen the day Album told him, so they weren't worrying where he would be. Levi and Ino expressed that they thought a day of meetings and discussing would be boring, but June only nodded and patted him on the back for getting new opportunities. Although he told none of them that he was partly the reason from being there early, he always felt that June knew everything. He started to head to Album's office when he got the report, and this time he walked a little faster knowing what it was for. He found that June left the same time he did and ran into her before he got to Album's office. He asked where June was going, curious by the small amount of luggage she had. She told him she was going to Mantle to see the kingdoms old capital, adding that she be back the day STRQ would arrive in Atlas. He said stay safe, and went on to meet with Album. It didn't take the full day, but they negotiated a deal. Album had told him that he could join the military when he wanted, but that if it was before he graduated they would need to bring it up with current headmasters. Uruclay decided that he would finish his studies at Beacon first before joining. Album expressed some disappointment, but still needed to check something. She had arranged a battle simulation between Uruclay and an Atlas student. This student, however, had shown the most skill out of his class in airship and naval strategies. The student would also have the upper hand at the beginning of the simulation. Album, escorted by two androids, brought Uruclay to the simulation arena. He met with the student and they both shook hands before the simulation start. Album explained the situation and conditions that would take place, "The battle will be between two equal fleets fighting above the northern ocean of Anima, with a rock spire formation in the ocean providing the only cover. Uruclay, you will be facing Drake Lex. The two of you have equal grades and show similar capabilities on air and naval strategies. However, Drake will have a home field advantage, to say. The airships being used are new, experimental ships not yet to be used in the Atlasian air fleet, and Drake has been giving proper training on how they work. Uruclay, the General has high expectations of you and hopes that you'll be able to adapt fast enough to take on Drake. For the win conditions, each side will have a flagship. If this ship is taken down, be it an enemy or Grimm attack, the commander will be eliminated and lose. Now head to your stations!"

Uruclay was always confident in his abilities, but he was truly worried about this engagement. This would be equally as important to him as getting into Beacon with a similar entrance exam, if the entrance exam had let teachers fight against the students and could hide the artifacts. The point being was that he was at a disadvantage. Drake and Uruclay had been sat opposite of each other, but they were separated by a wall to prevent cheating. Each side had a holographic board. Although he didn't have the knowledge Drake did about his fleet, the two had 8 minutes to figure out beginning strategies and, for Uruclay, to see if he could learn anything about his ships before the start of the simulation. Drake, however, was very confident in his abilities. Although he wasn't usually cocky, the fact that his opponent had no idea what his ships could do had made him cocky. The battle was started and Drake had began by putting his flagship and its escorts into formation. The flagship would stay behind the main offensive force slowly following them. The reason that he didn't keep the flagship deep behind defense was that it possessed a very powerful anti-capital ship weapon. It was a dust powered laser that was capable of slicing entire fleets in half. A single use of the laser, however, would put the flagship out of commission for a time, so it was to be used as a last resort or if it was guaranteed to wipe out a fleet. There was a dedicated radar ship apart of the fleet as well, that would provide a location update of the enemy fleet every 30 seconds. When Drake had his first look at Uruclay's formation, he was surprised to see that it was very sporadic and unorganized. He was disappointed. He had heard that Uruclay was a brilliant tactician, so he started to look down on him for his organization or lack thereof. It would take another minute-and-a-half until the two fleets would meet head-to-head. This seemed to be the case until the next radar update, which showed that Uruclay was slowly retreating. Drake was still cautious, though, and had his faster ships take point to also act as scouts. It would now be two-and-a-half-minutes until the two fleets would engage. The next radar pulse would reveal something unique. There was a signal that identified as one of Uruclay's ships hovering very close to the water. It was a fast ship that would engage Drake's fleet very soon, and Drake assumed that it was supposed to be a scout. He started to think Uruclay more of a fool to think that simply going lower was going to mask him from radar. Instead of immediately getting rid of it when it was within range, he decided that he would let it be unless it tried something or got within range to see. He did this to trick Uruclay into thinking that lower altitude did mask the radar. Drake had thought highly of Atlas technology, commenting that the new, improved radars were capable of detecting aura, which made it possible to determine the difference between Grimm and airships. With that, there was a group of Grimm staying near Drakes fleet. He planned only to engage if the flock of Grimm attacked, but he wasn't able to tell what the Grimm were exactly until they got within sight. With the next radar pulse, his trick had worked. Uruclay had lowered his fleets altitude to hide himself and was slowing down. To go with it, Drake had slowed down his fleet to make him think that he had lost him. In the next 40 seconds, the two fleets would engage. The next radar pulse would be the last. When it happened, Drake had taken out the scout that Uruclay sent under him. Then, 40 seconds had gone by. As soon as Drake was in sight of Uruclay's fleet, he began to charge the flagships laser to quickly end the fight. However, the laser wouldn't charge because something had hit him from behind. The "Grimm" that were behind him had turned out to smaller airships that had all human occupants taken out, and they were armed with single-use, anti ship missiles. They weren't able to take out the flagship, but they disabled the ships laser and its ability to move fast. Drake was too distracted and figured out last second that Uruclay's flagship had charged its main weapon. The ship had fired and took out half of his fleet. Drake, still in shock that he knew how to use the ships laser, responded by sending the rest of his offensive force after Uruclay, but it was a sloppy counterattack and Uruclay had expected the rash planning. They flew too close to the rock formation, and Uruclay revealed his other trap. He planted mines that would start a rock slide on the formation when they blew, and he pulled the trigger. The debris had taken most of the airships out, with the little remaining being easy pickings for Uruclay's fleet. Then, Uruclay had sent his counterattack and had swiftly taken out all ships that were defending Drakes flagship. Defeat was imminent, and the results were clear. Out of the 7 escorts, flagship, and smaller airships that made up the fleets, Uruclay had only lost one escort and less than a handful of small airships. Drake, however, had lost everything.

After that simulation, Album saw Uruclay's ability. She was very impressed, and his plan perfect. Although Drake thought that Uruclay wouldn't be able to learn much in the 8 minute prep, Uruclay learned everything he could about the radar ship. He found out how it was able to distinct between Grimm and airships. He thought that automated airships would be too obvious, but he decided that sending a few ships would work. Then, he spent the beginning 30 seconds of the match researching his escorts. After seeing the first pulse, he found that Drakes flagship was staying close to his offensive force. This got him thinking, and he soon realized the flagship had an offensive function. He organized his fleet to resemble Drakes, but started his plan to attack him from behind. His use of the lower altitude scout was to get a view on Drake's fleet, thinking that he would let the scout get close to try and fool him. He was right, and one thing had led to another and he had won. Album had seen his skill, and she and Uruclay agreed on something that benefited both of them in the long run. Uruclay would still attend Beacon and complete this studies there, but, after he graduates, he will move to Atlas to begin basic military and strategy training that would allow him to become a commander. Album had no doubts that he would pass the training, reasoning that he didn't need it, but he needed to do this if he wasn't going to transfer to Atlas Academy. Uruclay was happy the rest of the festival, excited that he had a plan for the future. Ironically, he was very lazy when it came to planning for his own future, which made Levi and his parents very confused and surprised when he would tell them what would he had planned for the future...

**\- Chapter 8, Mantle, a Lost Capital -**

June was curious about Atlas officials wanting to talk to Uruclay, but she knew his love for their technology and thought asking would be intrusive. In the meantime, she was focusing on getting to Mantle. She wanted to see the city, but it seemed that Mantle's reputation was plummeting since the capital was moved to Atlas. She still, however, wanted to see the city for what it was. She bumped into Uruclay before she left, and told him that she would be back the day STRQ arrived. She would then head to the public airfield to depart for Mantle, but she would find a little trouble finding a way there. It seemed almost all airships had been departing from Mantle to Atlas, so the only flights back were airships planning to bring people to Atlas and they weren't prepared for passengers. She was able to negotiate a way to hitch a ride on the way back to Mantle, telling the pilot that she didn't need any accommodations. The trip would take a day, so June had to find something to do on her way there. She decided that she would read up more on Mantle, which included asking the pilot about the city. It seemed he was biased, saying that the city was getting worse and that it had poor living conditions. Something else she learned was that, since the moving of capitals, there was a majority of Faunus that lived in the city. Having been raised in Vacuo and having parents who didn't care who you were, she had no reason to hate Faunus. She did know that Faunus were treated very poorly in Atlas and Mistral, though, and it, in fact, was part of the reason she wanted to go to Mantle. She wanted to see conditions that Faunus were in in other kingdoms to see how bad it was.

The airship had landed, and June found the environment to be hostile quickly. Even with the harsh winter, when she got off she saw that were many people wanting to get on. For being told that the majority was Faunus, she found the most of the people leaving were humans. She started to look for the nearest Inn or place to stay for the time. She wasn't used to the cold, but she got over it quickly. She then found an Inn, which was also a bar, down the road. It was a decent place, better than some places in Vacuo, but looked old when compared to places in Atlas. She also realized the only people there were Faunus, and considering the way they looked at her when she walked in, they knew she wasn't someone who lived there. June went to the bartender to ask for a room. When she asked for a room and took off her scarf, the bartender looked confused for a bit. He was a large, older Faunus who had a lizard tail and some scaly parts on his face. "Are you a Faunus," was what the first thing he asked. "No," June had intentionally said it in a confusing tone. He then told her there was a better Inn farther down. "Why would you be encouraging me to go somewhere else," June added. "Hm, you're not from around here, are you," he went on. "No, I'm visiting Ma-," she started, but was cut off by him, "I mean, you're not from Atlas, are you." She told him she was there for the Vytal Festival, and he understood. "Where're you from," he was starting a conversation. She told him that she was apart of one of the teams competing for Beacon, and he showed that he wasn't very surprised that she was from Vale. He told her how things had worked in Mantle, confirming that the city wasn't as developed as Atlas was. He then added that the few humans that lived there weren't very happy about living there, as more moved to Atlas every year. She found herself learning a lot from the barkeep, who was named Ruthor. She felt truly bad about what was happening there, between the Faunus miners who would be lost in the mines, and their basic mistreatment from the people they worked for or lived with. She was very open with questions, asking why it seemed that the people there didn't show any distaste for her. Ruthor had been clear, telling her that it was because if they acted out of line, they would usually be ridiculed and might be taken out of a job depending on the person. It seemed that most Faunus' there were scared of humans. She didn't blame them, with the way things were in the city.

Her stay wasn't very long, but she did learn a lot from it. She now saw the hardships Faunus were going through firsthand, but she hadn't seen Mistral yet, which was supposed to be almost the same. She also gained a small reputation there, as it was uncommon for a human in Mantle to show respect to Faunus there. An example being her going to the local market. The day after she got there, she found a market area that was full of people. There were more expensive areas and shops, but June was visiting the entire market. She found that she was stopped more near those areas, though, because they weren't Faunus run and therefor weren't scared by approaching her. However, a Faunus child had walked up to her asking to look at what her parents were selling. Her mother, however, had gotten her and told her not to bother June. "No, I would like to look," June had told the mother. She let her look, but she still looked worried and wasn't talking to June. "No worries, I'm just visiting from Vale and was looking around," June said this to get rid of her worry. "Oh, well I hope you've enjoyed your stay," she had said in almost a completely different tone than before. June, though not being into flowers, had bought some because she wanted to help them. She had another plan as well, getting a white rose for Summer. The rest of her time in the market would resemble that encounter, Faunus being scared of her at first, but then she would make them feel better after she explained where she was from. She left the next day, finding it was more cramped on the way to Atlas. When she got back, STRQ had already settled in, but Summer was waiting to see her. She acted like she hadn't seen June in years, and they started to head back to the academy dorms. June had remembered the rose she got, and she reached for it from her bag to give to Summer. She was shocked by the gesture, but made it obvious that she loved it. They spent the rest of the night together, until they both went to sleep in each teams dorms...

**\- Chapter 9, Ino's Boiling Point -**

Ino was interested in June's trip to Mantle, but all June had said was that it wasn't very glamorous. She went with that, already knowing that Mantle had a bad reputation. The next week had been relaxed, all except for one day. June was a little harder on Ino in the one-on-one training she was giving for each member of JULI. She didn't like it, but knew that June was only trying to make her better. However, she didn't know June's true intention, but she would soon. The week had gone by, and the tournament was on. The first day had no fights including JULI, or STRQ, and JULI would end up fighting on the final day. They were bummed having to wait so long, but they would be the first fight of the day. They would be fighting an Atlas Team. They lined up accordingly, but it seemed that Ino was worried. It wasn't, however, who they were fighting that they were concerned about. June had seemed a little... odd recently. Her training sessions that she gave her seemed more focused on provoking her, in the best way June could show. After every showing of success, June wouldn't give her usual smile and tips on how to improve, and would instead give a disappointed look along with a perfect counter to whatever Ino did. If her intention was to make Ino mad, it had worked, and Ino had a burst and attacked randomly. Ino stopped herself and kept her anger in, embarrassed for a second, but in that short second she could see June's face, it was shock and something else that she couldn't make out in such short time. Ino said sorry about the outburst and June had went up to her and surprised her. June had slapped her in the face. Ino was in shock for a couple of minutes, in that time there was only silence. June broke it by saying that she was done with training for the day, adding that same disappointed tone in her voice.

With that training session and other examples that seemed to only be happening to Ino, she was more worried than her members about June's condition, another reason was that she tried to look after her teammates more than she should have, with not being the team leader. The two arenas that were selected were the Geyser Fields and a beach with a crashed wooden ship. JULI looked at their scrolls, and realized that June had sent them her plan and had taken point in front of them. It was risky, the plan being that the team, except for June, would run for cover on the beach with the ship. The problem was that it was a good distance from the starting point, but that's where June's plan got interesting. In order to shield the team from the inevitable hail fire that the enemy team would fire, June planned to take out one of them after she used her semblance and aura to reflect the fire back. They all knew that she would be eliminated, so they would have to rely on themselves for planning after the first minute. After they all read through, the timer hit zero and the plan had taken in effect. The Atlas Team, once they saw that JULI was heading for the ship, had started to assault them. They would've advanced forward but June had anchored where she was, and was shown to be standing still. The team, however, could tell that their rounds weren't hitting home, and that's when their leader had realized what was happening. Every time the team fired, even not at June, there would be a blur surrounding June and faint afterimages of her where they fired at. When the rest of JULI was behind the ship, June charged the teams major supporting role, and before the other members could realize that she was there, she had knocked the Hunter out of the arena. Before the rest of them could target her, though, she collapsed and her aura flashed and showed cracking around her. The announcers had revealed that June had used up the most of her aura covering her team and that the last use of her semblance to eliminate that Huntsmen had used up the last of it, but June knew that she was going to be eliminated. The student that she had taken out had an automatic weapon that took the most effort to reflect, and she knew that he would be a problem for JULI later and focused on him because of that. The crowd had gotten riled up at this, at first impressed by June's ability to take out ammunition mid-air and then shocked by June's sudden elimination. Most people had seen her in the previous tournament, and very much weren't expecting her to be taken out in the first round. The rest of JULI used the extra time to come up with a plan. Uruclay had a naturally large amount of aura, so he and Levi would stay together with Uruclay taking point. Ino would stay near them but would be mostly on her own, and she would be locked in a one-on-one with the teams leader. His weapon was high-powered sniper that could be sheathed, to say, with the corresponding energy shield to become a sword. The shield part had a metal strip that the sniper barrel went in to, and that part also projected the shield when not being used as the sword. The other two members of the Atlas Team had gone to take out Levi and Uruclay, and it was bad luck that Ino was pitted against the leader. His long range style had countered Ino, with her _Muerte Gris_ being focused on close to mid-range fighting. He fell back to the Geyser Fields for cover, so Ino had to push up going from cover to cover to avoid shots. She would occasionally be hit, which was devastating to Ino's aura because the weapon was already powerful, as well as her aura wasn't as tough as Uruclay's or June's. After she made it to the fields, she had been hit twice and her aura was brought down to almost half. When she got close to him, it was her turn to get her shots on the leader. Ino was able to brute force past his shield because of her close proximity and her usage of explosive, shotgun type rounds she was using, and then she hit him a couple times before he was able to get behind cover. She was able to surprise him, though, by firing rounds on the other side of the geyser he was behind. He was confused why she would fire randomly, but when he came out to show he had changed fighting styles, he ran into her trap. The rounds that she had fired were supposed to confuse him, as the were shot into the ground and implanted to become mines. He stepped on them and they had brought down his aura exponentially while also sending him flying back some distance away. She had gotten into a position beforehand to catch him mid-air, and her jabs with _Muerte Gris_ after his fall had eliminated him. Levi and Uruclay had taken out the opposing duo right before Ino could take out their leader. Although, it seemed the duo would've been a problem at first. They were suppressing Levi and Uruclay, preventing them from getting too close. However, one had been too close to a geyser and took a hit when one erupted. Uruclay took the small time they were confused to charge them, and, before they could fully recover, Levi had fired a charged shot at the support who was hit by the geyser which depleted their aura and eliminated them. Uruclay was able to take out the other in CQC after some fighting. The team was eliminated and JULI had won.

The duos would have a surprising twist. When it came to picking their duo members, JULI decided that taking votes were the best idea, as most teams did. When it came to June, it seemed obvious that she was going to compete, but that's where things would change. If the member they voted to go didn't want to, they didn't have to, and June had decided that she wasn't competing in the duos. Instead, she recommended Ino and Levi. The team was a little surprised, but went with her decision. Ino kept thoughts like this to herself, but she liked that she was able to compete without being overshadowed. Besides, for now it seemed that June was the only one that didn't want to compete, as the rest of JULI enjoyed the fights. The other thing that came as a surprise to Ino, though, is the amount of people that asked them about the decision, seeming curious why they didn't pick June to continue. It irritated her but she ignored it for the time, as it was only people that didn't know who she was. Levi and Ino's match would not be until the second day. June's cold attitude towards Ino didn't stop, but she seemed more relax. It was probably because June didn't have to worry about competing, and she would find herself in the library or talking to Summer in the time up to the fight. Although she didn't care to watch much of the other fights, finding them a little boring, she would watch JULI's fights as well as STRQ's to support them.

Ino and Levi's match was the third one on the second day. They were pit against a Haven Duo, and then they lined up for the fight on opposite sides of the starting area. The environments were chosen, and they would be fighting in the Forest, Ice Fields, Stormy Mountains and the Desert. After they were revealed, the timer started to countdown to their fight, and Levi and Ino were giving ideas for plans with their scrolls in the meantime. It seemed that unlike JULI's other matches, this one would have to be a direct confrontation with one-on-one fights between them. This was because the Haven duo had intercepted their plan and forced them to fight head on against them. Ino ended up fighting the one named Rufus, who seemed to have a heavy weapon style. He had a large bola attached by a chain to a large handle. In the first 20 seconds of the fight, Ino could tell that he focused on heavy hitting instead of speed, as she was able to dodge him with relative ease. She would put more shots into his aura every time she sidestepped an attack. However, she was hit once by the ball and her aura was brought down exponentially, which means that she could only take two more hits before her aura would be brought down below 15 percent. The fight had been brought into the Forrest, and Rufus was cutting down trees in order to find Ino. She would leave traps for him, whittling down his aura slowly. It seemed that his aura was very strong, but he was still playing as cautious as he could while still being aggressive. When it seemed there was no where left to hide for Ino, she went back to where they were fighting before, which was in the Ice Fields. A direct fight with him would put her at a disadvantage, and he knew this, but to his surprise she stayed and fight. With no cover, she couldn't hide any mines, or pull any tricks the same way she did before. The fight had become the sidestepping and dodging that mirrored the first part of their fight. However, Rufus would show what else he could do. When she just barely dodged a hit by the ball, the spikes had went into the weapon and then ejected out. Ino was caught off guard and her aura had taken a lot of damage, although not as bad as when she was hit the first time by the full weapon. She was knocked back, and Rufus started to get close to see about eliminating her. Ino could see that Levi was still in a fight with the other team member, so she had to make sure that she wasn't eliminated. Thankfully, it seemed that he walked right into her trap. Her semblance, as it turns out, made it seem like she had a small aura reserve, but the passive part of her semblance would deplete her aura twice as much for the damage she took. Every time her aura was depleted, though, her aura would "shed" and leave a minefield. Since it was aura as well, it was completely invisible to the human eye, and it could also lure Grimm away from things. When she first discovered it, she could only cause explosions at her command, but with training she could change what happened when it was activated. Rufus had stepped on this part, and she had caused an explosion where he stood. She exploded the exact amount that she would need to eliminate him. Before she could go help Levi, though, the smoke had cleared and Rufus had looked fine. Now his semblance was revealed. His heavy nature not only came from his strong aura, but by the fact that he could, in exchange for aura, harden it to the point where it was basically impenetrable. He was expecting something, so he was keeping his guard up the whole time. The explosion had still taken a part of his aura, and with him using his semblance, a large portion of his aura was gone. Ino had put everything in that, so she didn't know what she was going to do. She started to run towards the desert area, and Rufus had done something to prevent that. The ejected spikes that he had shot out could explode on command and Ino didn't notice that she ran past one. It detonated and knocked her down, taking only a little bit of aura because she was too far for it to be devastating. The damage was also too small to use her semblance effectively, as the power of the mines were proportional to how much damage she took. Rufus had started to approach her, keeping his distance to stay safe. Right before he could get too close, though, he lost his balance and started to float. When he looked up at Ino, she had took aim and shot him dead on. He used the last of his aura to shield against the shot, but he was knocked down to the floor and Ino had exploded the area around him. Without enough aura to protect himself with his semblance, he was eliminated by his aura going below 15 percent. He realized what had happened after it. The reason he started to float was because he walked into the area he hit her the first time in the fight. It had been there the whole time, so she used it to flip the gravity and then shot him into the other field she left to eliminate him. Knowing what his semblance was beforehand, she only used half of the field in the past explosion she did in order to use the other half just in case. She had planned all of it. She went to assist Levi, who was pinned in a long range battle with the other member. With her help, he was able to push up and take out the enemy a couple minutes later. The fight was over, and JULI would choose one of them to move on to the next round.

The day break before the final round was the opposite of a break for Ino, being much more hectic than last year. It was mostly because the team had picked her over Levi. She didn't realize how stressful the position would be. She would've sympathized with June about being a final contestant because of how stressful it was, but she continued to act rude and became part of the reason for her stress. Ino also didn't like getting advice from June, feeling that it would just make her own win seem not as good. However, she did know that she needed it, and that was another reason she didn't like it. She kept that thinking to herself, though, reasoning that it wouldn't help to think about it or talk about it. June would force her into a training session, and although she didn't want it, she agreed to it anyway. Same as before June was especially harsh, but not as bad as last time, no slapping out of the blue. Ino would end up fighting the first day, and she was very nervous before the battle. All of JULI would support her; however, it seemed that June wasn't there before she went into the ring.

She lined up on the ring against an Atlas student. Her name was Sakura Hitto, and she seemed in both parts similar and opposite of Ino. She had blonde hair and was very open and jumpy. Her outfit seemed odd, though, as she wore a long sleeved sweatshirt but then wore shorts that were similar to Ino's. She also wore a backpack that seemed electronic and metal, and it made the outfit even more sporadic. Unfortunately, she didn't do any research on the final contestants because she was too nervous, and it seemed that June wasn't trying to help her anymore. It was her fault and she didn't mind June not being able to take any credit for her win. She put it aside, needing to figure out who she was fighting, and it seemed that she was very social. She was trying to talk to Ino, and she would've liked the gesture if they weren't going to be fighting soon. Another reason was that she seemed to be able to read people, and she was very open about it. She pointed out that Ino seemed awfully nervous, and Ino just tried to ignore her for the time being. The countdown had started and they both got ready. It reached zero and Sakura had started to run towards her, Ino preparing to see what she could do. Ino seemed confused at first, as Sakura was only using basic CQC. She was skilled at it, though, showing that she knew some form of fighting. Ino, not being skilled in any fighting styles, didn't know what it could be or if she was even right. The fight was full of close range slashes from Ino that hit Sakura more often than she thought they would. It seemed that she wasn't very fast, but she would still get hits on Ino every once in awhile. She was slow, but it seemed that she was getting more hits on Ino the more the fight went on. Ino decided that retreating before she could hit her and attacking her at range would be better for herself. She started to run around the ring, getting close to the edge, but keeping her distance from it. Instead of getting closer and chasing her, though, Sakura had started to bring up her arm while she tried to dodge shots from Ino. There seemed to be a scroll, or some other device on her wrist. When she was done, she had started to fire back from her arms. It appeared that she had guns of some sort hidden under her sleeves, and she was firing back. The shots had hit hard, but Ino started to dodge them to prevent losing more aura. Although she seemed dumb, Ino knew that Sakura had to have been picked for a reason by her team. For a second, she thought of the circumstances that that got her there, but she ignored it as she would get too unfocused. Ino decided to catch her off guard with her semblance, the same thing she did with Rufus. However, she knew that it would be predictable, as Atlas students were known to take their fights very seriously and do their research beforehand. She knew that she would have to catch her off guard unless she randomly got a new ability, which seemed highly unlikely. Ino changed tactics and got closer to Sakura, and the two met with each other and started another bout of close up fighting. Sakura found her sudden fighting change suspicious and suspected there was a tactical reason for doing it, instead of it being a way to impress the crowd. As the fight went on, Ino found that she was being pushed more and more, as Sakura now used a shotgun infused fighting style that made her punches hit harder, so she would have to do something soon. Luckily for her, it worked out in her favor, as the fight had moved on to an area where she was damaged before. All of sudden, Sakura lost her balance and started to float. Sakura was waiting for the moment she showed her semblance and had decided to show her weapon, the _Durate Verdadate's, _true form. Her backpack had fully undone and created an exo-suit around her. The mechanism activated, along with anti-gravity dust crystals to bring her back on her feet. The crystals had another purpose too, as they were used to increase her speed and get rid of the weight added on by the exo-suit which, as well as some of her own weight. Though the suit was heavy, it was designed as a series of braces attached to the back of her arms and legs and was also put on her spine. Something else that went with her weapon, or suit, was that she had electronic contacts that would provide an increase reaction time that allowed her to go at such fast speeds. This was the _Durate Verdadate's_ full capabilities. Ino started to fire at Sakura before the suit fully deployed, but she was able to dodge them, or use her aura to prevent damage to the suit. When it was done, her speed was comparable to a base June, of which Ino hadn't been able to outrun yet. Ino wouldn't be able to dodge the next hit, and because of her semblance and Sakura's now increased strength, it would be devastating. This development made her start to think about how she got there. She didn't suppress the thoughts this time, with being voted in and not doing research on her opponents, but still thinking June would help her. Sakura had rushed for Ino, her speed would make the first hit happen in seconds, and Ino didn't know what to do. She couldn't contain her emotions anymore, and the burst had proven to be useful, contrary to what she thought. In the split second before Sakura would hit her, Ino had instinctively dodged to the left. Sakura was put into shock for a second, which Ino took advantage of and released a hail fire of dust at her backpack. Sakura pulled back and was left with a malfunctioning suit, but she was still able to move. Ino had destroyed the systems that controlled the arms, so she called them back. Before she could start to rush Ino again, however, she found that she couldn't move. The problem was that she had stepped into one of Ino's fields, which had frozen her legs. The ice was strong enough to hold her in place even with her suits strengths enhancements. For once, Ino understood how to use her emotions to her benefit, and the sudden burst had advanced her semblance and allowed her to form ice from the mine fields. Her increased speed had let her fire the _Muerte Gris_ far faster than she could before, being almost as fast as a fully automatic pistol. The gunfire was a mix of fire, explosive and electric dust rounds, with the electric rounds damaging Sakura's suit. Being immobilized, Sakura could only dodge some of the rounds, and her aura was brought very close to the 15 percent mark after half-a-minute of firing. When it seemed that Ino was out of ammo, Sakura tried again to escape the ice. The ice had loosened, and she was about to get out, but Ino had other plans. Another new ability she discovered was that she could change the form her shredded aura could take, unless it was already blown up. The ice had had become loose because Ino had made it into a bomb. Before Sakura could get a leg out, Ino detonated the ice, and the blast had brought her aura down past the mark, while also knocking her out of bounds. Her emotions were still jumbled, but she was still very excited about winning her match with her own wits.

She was still equally parts mad and happy about the win. With June's behavior and her general attitude towards Ino in the past week, she was surprised to see that the first person who greeted her was June. When she was getting closer, she decided that she shouldn't hide her feelings anymore and would tell her how she felt. However, before she could start talking, June took her in a big hug and started to talk very excitedly. "That was awesome," was the first thing June had said, and following that she started to talk about the skill one needed to have to counter something that countered them and that her new abilities were very good. Ino was awfully confused and pushed June away for a second. June realized what that meant, and put herself together and started to explain. June was acting very strict to Ino because she needed to see her get emotional, knowing how powerful an outburst would be if she could use it. She then added her sudden speed boost in training had impressed her and confirmed that Ino needed to let loose to become more powerful. This explained what that other emotion was Ino saw her face in the split second, and June had also explained that her constant bottling of emotions had led to slow advancement of her skills, so she needed to eventually let them out to properly find what else she could do. Ino had burst out, angry that she intentionally acted that rude. "I'm really sorry. I didn't want to do it, but I needed to see if it would work," June had said this sounding extremely guilty, but Ino didn't want it and went off. Ino had run into Sakura on her way to leave the stadium, and tried to avoid her. Sakura had ran up to her when she saw her, and wanted to talk. Ino thought it would be full of hate, but it was the opposite as she treated her with respect and it seemed as if she looked up to her. Ino asked about the way she was acting, and her response was simple. Sakura had found it as a friendly competition that let her meet new people, which was the point in the Vytal Festival anyway. Ino understood her and eased up about talking to her. Sakura had also added that she liked seeing other semblances in action and thought hers was cool. They talked for a bit and Sakura had asked about her mood while adding that she seemed down even though she just won her match. Ino didn't go in detail about it, but she told her that her team leader was treating her unfairly and acting weird. Sakura had said that was surprising, but added that she hadn't gotten to meet her to know. Before they could continue, though, June had come up to tell Ino that the airship was leaving. Ino only sighed and said goodbye to Sakura, but ignored June when she went off. June was going to wait a bit to give Ino space, and Sakura had seemed interested in talking to her. She asked her about Ino being mad at her, and June told her that she tried something that may have backfired when it came to their relationship. Sakura added that she understood it can be hard for a leaders teammates to realize what the intention was, but also added that, after some time, she should feel better. "Thanks," June responded, and Sakura had pulled her into a conversation. She seemed interested in June's semblance, finding that it was also interesting. The way she talked about it made it seem that she was obsessed with semblances, and June had asked her about her fondness for them. "Oh, I find them interesting because I haven't discovered mine yet," was her reasoning. June showed a little shock, realizing that she was lucky to find hers at such a young age. While not having one of her own yet had been a reason for her liking semblances, another was that she found them very unique and that advancing one actually took training insterad of improving technology like she's forced to do. June said that she must of been a positive woman in order to find the good in not finding hers yet, but had to leave before the airship back to Atlas had left. June said goodbye to Sakura, adding that she hoped she found out what it was one day. June joined JULI on the way down...

**\- Chapter 10, Levi's Trump Card -**

Levi had found himself to be the most social of Team JULI, but he was also known to be an excellent supporting player. He was excellent in that field, but he wasn't very good at resolving bigger social issues. He usually left that to Ino, as she was admittedly better at it, but this time she was one of the people involved. Thankfully, by the time they started their fourth year, it seemed that she felt better about it, figuring that June had been the one to advance her semblance. Ino still didn't know how she truly felt about it, but she saw that June was just trying to help her become a more skilled Huntress. Although things were fine now, the rest of the team thought the problem was never going to get fixed and that the team might fall apart. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, and they could continue their last year together.

In their first semester, JULI would be assigned to protect an outside village as they packed up to move into Vale. Because they were moving to Vale, Beacon was going to provide support to the moving village. The assignment would take almost a week and they would have to stay in tents for a place to stay. However, the places they would be staying would get less comfortable as the rest of Outlook would pack up. JULI was sent out in an airship and the trip there wouldn't take more than a day. During the mission briefing, the area was told to dangerous, and was one of the reasons for them moving. "If it's that dangerous, then why did they move there in the first place," Ino had asked Ozpin, who had been providing the briefing. "You see, it was only recently that Grimm activity had started to increase, as the village has been fine there for years. So far we don't know the reason for such an increase but these are reports from two months of monitoring, which confirm that they had also been hiring more Hunters," Ozpin had replied. He kept on, adding that they would be taking an airship back after preparations. Before any of them could ask, he told them that the ship picking them up would have another team to assist in bringing the people to Vale. This would be to let JULI rest and not be away from their studies for long. Before the briefing was ended, though, Levi had one more question. "Before we leave," Levi started, "how do we have scouting reports for a village that was outside Vale?" Ozpin had sighed and started to explain, "As sad as it is, we couldn't just send a Huntsman or team out the day they asked for help. In order for me to make it worth the manpower, I had to have confirmed reports showing that they needed help to the council." As bad as it seemed, the village was able to survive in the meantime, so JULI didn't complain and kept their opinions to themselves. With that, Ozpin had dismissed them and they departed to Outlook, the village in question.

After their day flight, the team had settled down in Outlook. The Huntsman Vale had assigned had left when they got there, letting them take over. It was a nice village, most of the people very respectful to JULI, with the mayor adding that he wished to show them around if they weren't moving. It seemed JULI would get a day off, as Grimm activity was low for the day. Levi found himself hanging out in the bar, but it was to bring Uruclay somewhere to socialize. Neither of them drank but Levi had wanted to meet new people, and he told Uruclay to come with him. Uruclay, surprisingly, had found someone to talk to. The bartender had retired from the Atlas military to relax somewhere else, and Uruclays interest had gotten the two to talk. Although the bartender had wanted to move to see a new place, he still had pride in his kingdom and loved to boast to Uruclay. In the meantime, Levi would look for someone else he could talk to. Surprisingly, however, he didn't find anyone to stay in conversation with, so he eventually stayed with Uruclay to hang out. Uruclay and the bartender had been talking awhile, revealing that he was supporting of the move as he wanted to see another kingdom for once. Eventually, Uruclay and Levi would leave to get some sleep, as they would need it for tomorrow.

They soon figured out why they were sent. In only the first full day they would be there, the Grimm activity was high and a lot of them attempt attacking Outlook. JULI had been spread out protecting the four sides of Outlook. Levi and Ino were guarding the longer fences while June and Uruclay covered the smaller of the four. This was done to maximize each others skills, as Levi and Ino were more focused on range then Uruclay and June. Levi, although being primarily a support, could hold his own. He was left to taking out Beowolves and the occasional Ursa at range, which seemed to be very deterring to the beasts who focused on close range slashes and pounces. There were times of silence, though, and Levi used the time to rest and restock on ammo. There was a point where it felt like Grimm hadn't come back in a while, so he was wondering if the rest of JULI were having the same thing happen, or if they were taking all the action. It was then that he was interrupted. The surprise party was a pack of Beowolves and an Ursa, and some of the wolves, including the Ursa, were more armored and advanced than the others. A group of six Beowolves attacked him first and all at once, but he was able to dispose of them relatively quickly while dodging their first rush. He was out of ammo because of it, though, which led to the other wolves attacking him in succession. They were the more armored, smarter ones, and they knew that he would have to reload eventually. Levi had to switch to his secondary cylinder in order to take out the second wave. This was also the cylinder that could hold larger rounds, which proved to be useful against the heavier wolves. However, they were still a challenge, with a couple getting a few good slashes on him that dropped his aura down to three quarters. After that, the only one left was the Ursa. Levi could tell it would be a challenge before fighting it, as it was almost pure white with armor. He would start by firing at it , seeing what it could take and what it would take to kill it, which proved to only annoy it when he was using his weaker rounds. Once he switched to the opposing cylinder, though, it started to show some response to his shots. After finding this out, he started to experiment to see what got to it the most. After testing and dodging when it got too close for comfort, he found that a few shots with some ice dust would immobilize it for some time. He started to load more ice dust when the Ursa started to rush him, and he was almost caught fully off guard. It shouldn't have been able to do this but it had a sudden speed boost, as if it knew what he was trying to do next. Levi realized his mistake, and that normal tactics may not work on it. Instead of ice he would have to use something else. The Ursa had found that he relied on range and started to get as close as it needed to in order to hit him. Levi was forced to dodge more often, but he was able to mix his reloading, dodging, and firing into one swift motion. Whenever it got a hit in, though, it would prove disastrous to his aura. After getting one of these hits in Levi's aura was brought down a quarter, which was worse than any other Grimm that had gotten to him that day. Levi began to steer the Ursa closer to the forest and away from Outlook. It seemed that the Ursa had followed him straight to it, and it was not as smart as it appeared. The forest was perfect for Levi as it would provide cover for him while the Ursa would be left to struggle getting past trees and other shrubby. Although it was very strong, it would take a lot on its part to break past some of the trees. While it would try to break past them, Levi could easily pelt it with dust to weaken it. After about ten minutes of this, he decided to use his ace. As the Ursa got stuck on another tree trying to get him, he charged up the _Rote Bedrohung_. After it was done, the Ursa had showed that it was never hit with something that powerful, but it wasn't enough to kill it. After he loaded another cylinder of his heavy ammo, it went down with another couple of shots. That was the last notable fight Levi had for the day and he would be off by nightfall. This was mostly because June decided that she would take the night shift, and everyone went with it. Levi wished that there was more of a night life, but with the moving it seemed that nobody bothered to go out at night, and if they were, they only there to pack up some more.

After the first day it seemed that it was getting better. There were less Grimm coming close to the town than before, so JULI got more breaks from the action. After scouting reports confirmed that Grimm activity was low enough, JULI was allowed to rest for the remaining part of the day. Levi and Uruclay found themselves hanging out with each other. The first thing that they did was get food, as they were both starving. Levi found a tent that was being used as a place to eat during the move. While they were there, they talked about Outlook and what each other thought of it. "It's a nice town and well defended, " Levi started, "but I don't think I could live somewhere that wasn't within one of the four kingdoms." Uruclay thought for a moment before he added more to the conversation, "Guess you're right but we should get used to it considering it's our job to help defend places like these." Levi added that he had a point, but followed up that he didn't have to wander, and also saying that he just preferred living in the city. "Besides," Levi started again, "you're a good example of a Huntsman who's doing something different, Mr. Atlas official." To someone who didn't know him, a remark like that came across as a little arrogant with the way he phrases it, but Uruclay knew that it was just a joke. In all truth, Levi was happy and a little proud that his friend had found something he wanted to do after he graduated from Beacon. As for him, he would do what most Hunters do once graduating and see what the future had in store for him. After getting lunch, they tried to find something else to do. However, there wasn't much and they found themselves playing games on their scrolls at their tent. When they got back, they found that June was by herself reading. They thought that she was still out, but after being back for a couple minutes she had left again. In the meantime, the two would hang out for the rest of the day. When night had fallen, Levi would try to get more sleep, as there was nothing better for him to do.

Although he wasn't used to it, getting extra sleep had been a good choice on his part. The reason was that the team was waken up early because of high Grimm activity in the morning. He was happy but that meant that June went from working the night shift to immediately working in the morning. Levi was shocked to see her unphased when she greeted them outside the wall. JULI would take the same positions that they usually took, Levi getting the longer wall. The Grimm activity was higher than usual for the morning, but it was also higher than if it was the middle of the day. It didn't seem that bad at first, with the only Grimm being Beowolves, albeit armored, but they were near never ending. Every time he would strike down a couple of them they would be replaced some time later. Their armored state only made the situation worse. In one case, he was struck after he tried reloading, as some of the wolves were keeping an eye on his movements. When he looked as though he was reloading, a pair of them had lunged towards him. They had struck him head on, knocking him back closer to the wall. The damage was substantial and it dropped his aura down to half. However, Levi used the knock back and time it gave to reload and quickly dispose of the Grimm. It wasn't the end of his struggles, though, as a group of Griffons had decided to go for him. He was thankful when he realized that they didn't have a Sphinx pack lead. Griffons weren't pushovers, though, as they immediately landed a hit on him. It didn't hurt him as much as the several quick slashes and headbutt that he just took, though. After being hit, he put a few heavy rounds into one and then slid under it to hit its underbelly, which had killed it fully. The pack had about six of them, so there were five left after that. He would have to focus on keeping his distance, like usual, but it would be harder with the flying Griffons. The first thing that he did was fire at the wings of two of them. It didn't seem to do much damage but after a couple seconds the Griffons were forcefully brought to the ground. The dust Levi fired were gravity crystals that would keep them down for the meantime. He started to fire at the other ones, although he couldn't get more gravity dust on the others as they started to fly sporadically. He prepared to fire a charged shot at one of the ones that were untouched, but before he could one of them charged him. He was forced to dodge while still getting the _Rote Bedrohung_ ready to fire. Once the time had come, he lined his shot up and was able to get two of them with a single blow. This had caught the others off guard and let Levi finish the two Griffons who had been pinned before. There were two left but they wouldn't go down without a fight. Before Levi was able to follow up, the two had charged him. The combined attack would prove difficult to dodge, as when he tried to dodge one the other would follow up to hit him. The first hit had gotten him down to almost twenty percent of his aura, but he was able to put a few shots into the one that just attacked him. The other had geared up to rush him again. Before it could, however, Levi had put everything into it. The hail fire had killed it outright with the other weakened from before. After reloading quickly, he had fired his last remaining dust, which had finally put an end to the beast. With that over, the rest of the day would go by more smoothly, mostly being that Levi was forced to call it a day to let his aura recover. What surprised him the most was June's actions coming back from her defending. It was the first time he ever saw her collapse from exhaustion, or anything. She had come to the tent they were staying and had simply fell on her bag and was knocked out. Levi figured out that she hadn't slept since they got there, also finding out that she would act as a scout when the team had some free time. What got his attention, though, was that she was able to hide being fatigued well. After that, Levi had went to get rest, as the next day would be the last.

The morning was chaotic. The airship picking up JULI to replace them with the escort would come in the afternoon, so their trouble wasn't over yet. The day had also seemed to attract even more Grimm than usual. Levi's job would be harder, and the rest of JULI would find difficulty as well. At first it seemed that there was just a lot of Grimm instead of stronger ones, but as the afternoon drew near, the beasts had started to appear stronger. After Levi had killed some beowolves, a couple of Ursa's had charged him. He dodged the first and ducked under the second while firing at them both, and while their backs were turned he was able to kill one and weaken the other. He loaded four more shots and fired. The final rounds had killed the last of the two. Levi wouldn't have much time to recover, though, as he was interrupted by some Griffons. However, the same as last time, they weren't accompanied by a Sphinx leader. They were different, though, fighting harder and more ferociously as though they wanted something. It was odd but it would prove worrisome as they wouldn't give Levi any chance to recover. When he had to reload he would find himself being ganged up on by the others in the pack, forcing him to dodge and ignore reloading. He was starting to get pushed into a corner, and the Griffons were attacking faster, which was draining his aura rapidly. He had been put down to fifty percent before he was forced to used one of his trump cards. Levi had a bad habit of waiting to use something important for the last second, something that might get him killed some day. The _Rote Bedrohung_ had recently been upgraded as a suggestion from June. Although she brought it up, Levi had been considering upgrading the weapon for awhile. He hadn't had much practice with it but it would have to do for now. The new upgrade allowed the weapon to separate into two different pieces, with one piece becoming a revolver and the new piece becoming a prod/blade hybrid that used one of the cylinders as an energy source. The prod was able to switch the effects it had on things depending on the dust used, but the blade end could also be infused with dust to apply effects to things, besides being just a blade. Although he wasn't familiar with it yet, he was still able to cut down the closest one while using the revolver counterpart to suppress the others. The dust he used in the prod had been infused with fire dust that was able to burn through the Griffon and kill it with relative ease. It was a lot more effective than he thought it would be, so it was a good revelation. He had ran empty in the revolver and the others started to rush him once they realized he was out. It would be less extreme than the day before, with his new weapon and that their was less Griffons than yesterday. He was forced to slide under the first one, cutting its underbelly while doing so, and then reloaded his revolver. Levi then fired at the ground in front of another one. The dust he was using was earth dust and the ammo had caused an eruption of dirt that knocked the griffon into the air, which had stunned and damaged it. There was one left he hadn't touched and it had caught him off guard, damaging him and lowering his aura. After that, he used basic ammunition to finish off the one he cut early. The griffon that had been stunned was just recovering when he used his prod to electrocute the Grimm, and then he finished it off with the revolver. That left one out of the three left, but before he could start attacking it again, something had started to cast a shadow above him. It seemed that he was wrong to assume that the Griffons didn't have a pack leader. The Sphinx had crashed down with three other griffons, throwing Levi back and draining his aura even more. He was running below fifty percent already but he couldn't get help with the Griffons blocking him, so he was forced to fight. It had been years since the last time he fought one and, although he wasn't one hundred percent confident in himself, he was curious to see how much he had improved. He knew he would have to reassemble the _Rote Bedrohung_ in order to stun the beast, but he would have to take care of the Griffons first. Two of them had started to charge at Levi, and when they got close he had crouched down to cut at their legs. The heated blade had cut the unarmored legs like butter, disabling them for a bit. He then used lightning dust to stun the creatures, which had prevented them from flying away. While they were stunned, he replaced his ammo with sticky rounds and fired them at the remaining two. These had been gravity dust projectiles, and he had used them to get their heads forced to the ground. He then loaded some fire dust and put a whole mag into one of them, which had killed it outright. Then, he turned and had to kill the two stunned Griffons behind. He had killed the first one with a quick slice to its head, but before he could get the other one the Sphinx had used its tail to launch a fireball at him. He was forced to dodge and the delay had let the Griffon recover and fly off. It was a problem but he had to focus on the other that was stunned. However, it had also recovered in the time the Sphinx gave it. With two Griffons left and the fact he was low on ammo, he was starting to see a problem. Levi started to put the _Rote Bedrohung_ in its original form while the Sphinx started to use its fireballs as mortars. After half-a-minute of dodging he had his full weapon back, which he started to charge up. There was another problem coming up, though, as the Griffons had recovered and started to charge him again. The one he cut the leg off of had started to charge him faster than the other, and looked as though it was willing to kill itself to return what Levi had done to it. It held a grudge but Levi wouldn't let that happen. When it had just gotten to him he was able to sidestep and fire at where its leg used to be. It shrieked in pain and Levi had started to get close to use a raw dust crystal to kill it, as the _Rote Bedrohung_ was still charging. When he got close, it used its wings to knock him away. What seemed to be a last ditch effort was actually to get Levi in place. It was then that one of the fireballs had hit Levi. It hit hard, the blast sending him back and dropping his aura to five percent. The _Rote Bedrohung_ had also been knocked away from him. He was cornered with no weapon to defend himself, and the pack had seen this. The Sphinx and the two Griffons had started to approach him. Levi stood up but he wasn't concerned at all. If Grimm knew how to distinct facial expressions, they would've been a little cautious getting close. Something had started to rumble underneath the Grimm, stopping them as they started to look around to see what it was. Nothing was close but before they could get closer to Levi, it got more intense and started to stun the creatures. Then, a collection of pillars formed from earth had started to rise up and hit the Grimm from below. The force was enough to kill the two Griffons and stun the Sphinx, and while this was happening Levi had grabbed the Rote Bedrohung and fired its charged shot at the Sphinx. His semblance had been his clutch the entire time. Although he was thankful for it, it was a bitch to train with as in order for it to activate he needed to be below ten percent of his aura. Its power was to cause quakes in the surrounding area that could change in intensity as per his command. Because if it activation conditions, the semblance didn't cost him aura for the first thirty seconds of use, but it was dependent on how big the quake was. The pillars, however, was something he did himself just in case he was weakened, which involved planting earth dust with detonators around the area. The Sphinx was still recovering from the quakes it was hit, and it was severely damaged by the shot. Levi then loaded heavier rounds into the second cylinder and had unloaded into the stunned beast. The damage it had taken before the earth pillars had hit it had made a second charged shot not needed to kill. It had been reduced to a black corpse that started to decay after a couple seconds. Levi had collapsed once they were gone, exhausted from the battle. His aura wasn't completely drained but he would need time to recover.

After Levi had reported what happened, June took over his side to let him recover. The day had started to go by fast, and although he was recovering, Levi was helping with the final preparations before leaving. The ship to take them back to Vale had arrived as Uruclay had almost been taken out. The team to replace them would take care of the defending for the rest of the day, and for the trip to Vale. JULI had packed up and got on the airship to head back. On their way, it seemed that June was back to studying something on her scroll. Some time into the trip, June had to talk to Levi about something. "What you want J," Levi was the only one who called her that, but she didn't care, "I just needed to talk to you about something," and then she sat down beside him with her scroll. She sent him the footage she had of him fighting, and then explained that she was going to try and give him tips on his CQC. "I appreciate the help but I wouldn't want to cut a hole in this thing," Levi had added in a sarcastic and almost showing off tone. June only sighed and told him to get his scroll. He complied and the two went over what she saw while Levi also explained in detail what he did because the footage was a little weird. After about an hour of reviewing, Levi wanted to stop and June had let him rest more. The airship had landed back at Beacon and the team had settled down. Ozpin had given them a day of rest, though, so the team had used it to just relax, much to Levi's delight...

**\- Chapter 11, The Final Mission (Finale),**

Their last year had gone by quite fast. It seemed that JULI would approach graduation faster than they though, and most of them were worried about the final. June, even though she kept her cool expression, was also a little concerned. She was used to unexpected outcomes but she was still worried her about her teammates. They were all great in battle and they were pretty good at their classwork, so there wasn't any reason to worry. However, she still worried about them. To resemble a Hunters unpredictable career, the finals would be random and could be either an exam, a mission of some sort, or a mix of both depending on the mission and exam. Most of the time, danger ratings, or shortened to DR-#, are not high enough on missions to bypass an exam portion, but there have been cases where a horde of DR-3 Grimm have been classified as low DR-4, which would make an exam unnecessary. Nearing the second semesters end, it was seeming that JULI would have no mission. However, a week before the exam would be taken, something had alerted perimeter and long range radars off the coast of the island of Patch. It was realized to be a Grimm force, as scouting airships were sent to investigate. With scouting done and a DR-4 determined, the force would be at Patch in two days. Although not recommended by the council, forces of Hunters were spread out thin, so Ozpin had picked JULI for the job. Asking Atlas for military support had been brought up too; however, a force of airships wouldn't make it in time, and STRQ wasn't chosen because of Taiyangs attachment to the island, as Ozpin assumed that he'd want to stay with his family when they would evacuate and settle down temporarily because they were on the half of the island being evacuated. JULI would be forced to hold off the invasion in the most northern coast of patch, as it was a relatively small area and JULI would be able to cover it well. If any other Grimm were to stray off there would be extra Hunters spread out, thinly at that, making them too far to assist JULI if it was needed. The force still had some unknowns but in the worst case JULI could send a request for help from the other Hunters, and the help of a small fleet of outdated airships Vale would use as a last resort. JULI was brought to the island of Patch the night before the invasion.

The team and Hunters assembled for the job would stay in an encampment located fourteen kilometers from where JULI would be placed. Since the camp was improvised, it was nothing but tents containing everything they would need for tomorrow. Storage tents held the dust and rations, there were tents that the Hunters would stay in over the night, and pre-manufactured landing pads for the airships that would constantly come and go. Ozpin had personally came to the camp to provide mission briefing to them all. "Let's make this quick," he started, "you'll all certainly need the sleep for tomorrow. The Grimm force in question has evened out as DR-4 and will require the most effort by our backing team, JULI. However, the Hunters spread out further among the coast have an important job of clearing any excess of Grimm straying from the main force. The horde is mainly aerial, consisting of Nevermores, Griffons, and Sphinxes leading some of the Griffons. However, we have used sonar to identify movement underwater. The latest report show these as small, fast moving creatures, but we'll be incapable of taking anymore tests as of tonight to ensure safety of the people manning them." He stopped, and he looked as though he was changing his tone. "I tell you this with the best of intentions," he had started again, but in a more serious tone, "don't let anything personal prevent you for asking for help if needed. We may be stretched out thin, but if something big comes out to surprise us, we need you to report it immediately. I don't think ego is a problem for any of you, I just needed to make myself clear, as we still don't know truly what lies underneath the water." Levi had raised his hand and Ozpin asked what it was, "If we were to run out of dust during the invasion, how would we replenish it." Ozpin had started to answer him, "I was waiting for one of you to ask that. The airships moving between the kingdom and here are setting up a singular tent area close to the shore for a place to restock ammo to JULI. As for the Hunters, I recommend bringing as much as you can as we aren't able to set up dedicated restock areas for you. For JULI, I recommend that some of you conserve ammo while others use more, to make a chain of replacing members restocking and currently fighting." June nodded in agreement, and Ozpin had finished explained everything. He left on an airship, and JULI would get their rest for the next day.

The first signs of the invasion were expected to arrive at 0800, so JULI had gotten up at 0600 in order to get geared up and to be brought to the beachhead. It would take about five minutes of flying to get there, and they were flown in at 0715, giving them time to prepare. The beachhead was a small bay, the water extending no longer than 2000 meters. June had kept the team close to make supporting each other easy, but far enough so Levi and Ino would be able to kill things on the edge of the bay at range. After some time waiting, the first signs of Grimm had started to show. The first wave was small, consisting of a variety of Nevermores and some Griffons that strayed from larger packs. June and Uruclay were forced to use their weapons ranged counterparts in order to do something without waiting for them to get close. Once more Griffons had started to show up, though, the two switched back and would fight the Griffons already landed while Ino and Levi would take care of the other flying creatures. As the larger force had drew near, the signs of what came up underwater were starting to show. June had noticed it first, finding ripples in the water that were farther out, and they weren't caused by anything above the water. She was forced to focus on the current Grimm there, as the first Sphinx had shown up. Unlike the teams first encounter though, and unlike Levi's case, it was dispatched of quickly. It still went down with a fight, though, striking Levi and forcing June to use her semblance for a split second in order to dodge an attack. It was taken out by June disabling it while Levi and Ino had finished it with a hail fire of dust. More Griffons had showed up with the Sphinx and JULI had focused on them after taking out the Sphinx. They continued on holding back the force for a couple minutes before it seemed the forces were getting weaker, but there was a larger Nevermore and some Griffons still waiting in the air. When they had decided to come down to attack, they had singled out June. This was due to a preference the somewhat smarter creatures had over the others, as she had been singled out and closer to the shore than the rest, trying to push some Griffons back to the sea. First, the large Nevermore had landed in between the space separating June from the rest of JULI. It was then followed by the Griffons, who were immediately distinguishable by the more bone white armor they had compared to their counterparts. Her ambush would force her to use the _Angeli_ _Cadunt_ more. Although they landed after the Nevermore, the Griffons charged her first, and she had dodged the attack while hitting two of the Griffons with a flurry of kicks and nun-chuck attacks. After she knocked them back, there was an opening on the Nevermore, which was about to use some of its feathers as projectiles. Before it could do that to her, though, she had sheathed _Cadunt_ and disconnected it from _Angeli_. She then used the gravity crystal connectors and used it as a form of lasso that attached her to the leg of the Nevermore, then using it to pull herself closer to the bird. It wasn't able to react to the action fast enough, and she was able to get on its back. When it realized what happened, it started to take off and fly sporadically to shake her off. To stay on, June had taken _Cadunt_, deployed a double-edged knife blade from the bottom, and had stabbed it into the beast. It had recoiled and let out a grunt but had shrugged it off and continued its shaking. She then did the same with _Angeli_ and used the connecting cylinders as a rope to hang on. Then, she started to move the blades of each handle around in attempt to steer it, but it wasn't making a difference at first. To act as a catalyst, she took two electric dust crystals and stabbed them into the Nevermore right next to where _Angeli_ and _Cadunt_ were wedged in. It had immediately made it recoil and she had started to move the crystals with the two blades, which allowed her to steer it like she hoped, though not very accurately. She had started to steer it back towards the shore but the Nevermore tried one more time to shake her off before crash landing. It resisted the pain for a couple seconds and flipped 180 degrees upside down while using its wing feathers to try and hit her. June held on tight and was forced to use her semblance to dodge one of the hits, however, she had been fine and the Nevermore continued downward. After about a couple more seconds of falling, June had taken out _Angeli_ _Cadunt_ and jumped off the bird. Her plan had worked almost perfectly, it being to ram the Nevermore into the group of Griffons. There had been five of them but only two of them had realized something was wrong and flew away. The other three would be killed by the ramming along with the Nevermore. Her eject had led her to be farther down the shore than she already was, as she was now in the water whenever the waves would come up. Before she could start after the remaining two, something had come out of the water and grabbed her. It had surprising speed, being able to grab June before she could use her semblance. It was a Grimm with claws that pierced her skin with her guard down. It then started to pull her into the water, but before it could bring her farther in, she had taken _Angeli_ _Cadunt_ and sliced off its short arm. She had used her semblance to increase its speed, unknowing of how durable the creature was. Thankfully, it seemed it wasn't too durable as it cut through it like butter with only a little use of her semblance. With its arm cut off and injured, the thing retreated back into the water. Once the arm disintegrated, June used her aura to heal it. The encounter had wasted close to five percent of her aura with the use of her semblance and healing her wound. She had ran back more inward, and joined JULI again in clearing the beachfront. When there was some small intermission, she warned the others not to get close to the water, as there was something underneath. They would all listen to her, but it seemed the creatures had more to show. After about ten more minutes of smaller assaults from Griffons and smaller Nevermore, with the occasional Sphinx, the Grimm from before had shown themselves to be amphibious. The first one had jumped out of the water onto the beach, and started to head towards the team. Uruclay would be the first person it would go for, as he was the closest. June was concerned about the encounter, still unsure of its true abilities, but it was slower than the one she encountered before. This led her to think they were faster in water, so she felt more at ease, thinking it wouldn't be able to outrun Uruclay. In the meantime, he had engaged the beast, which had a face similar to an Ursa if it was a little smaller and had a little less teeth. It also had a long body, like a large ferret, but had longer legs and stronger hind legs. It was something that JULI had never seen, so Uruclay wasn't sure if the bone white armor lacing its back was common, or a sign of an older one. He started by going for its head with the _Geheimnisvoller_ _Wald's_ blade. When he got it behind the beast, it had tried biting at his head. Using his left arm and aura, he stopped it from chomping down with his open palm and elbow. Even with aura, doing this to an unknown creature was very risky, but he found that its biting power came from the sharp teeth it had and not jaw strength. When he started to make the motion to cut its head off, though, it rolled over and freed itself from his grasp while knocking Uruclay over. His tanky aura had taken the blow in stride, barely scraping it, but what the beast lacked in strength, it had in speed. It was back on its feet only a couple seconds after it rolled over, and then attacked Uruclay again. Knowing he wouldn't be able to get up in time, he bent his legs and kicked as hard as he could when it got close enough. Although it was longer than it was tall, it had still been sent upward from the blow, giving Uruclay enough time to grab the _Wald_ and get up. In one fell swoop, the weapon had transformed into its rifle counterpart and he fired under its jaw while it was still recovering. Although the rounds were not as large as a sniper round, the bullet had killed the creature, which proved it was relatively weak. He got back up and went back into his position relative to JULI.

Once the second wave had come, it was distinguished from the first in under ten minutes. It became obvious there was more when a small horde of the otter-like Grimm had come out of the water. There had been more Sphinxes than before and peak Nevermores had also shown themselves. JULI was put under major stress, but held out for as long as they could. Levi and Uruclay had found themselves taking on a Sphinx pair, assuring their teammates they could take them as long as they prevented outside interference. After about a ten minute struggle, the pair had killed them off while June and Ino had fended off more of water Grimm and Griffons. The fight hadn't been too taxing but had damaged the duo more than other Grimm in the invasion, with Levi losing ten percent of his aura while Uruclay had lost twelve percent due to taking more hits for Levi. It had been grueling, with all of them losing a little less than half of their aura. June, however, had managed to keep hers around 85 percent, as she wasn't pressured to use her semblance that much and could avoid stronger hits. Even though their auras weren't pressured, the team had started to become exhausted by the amount of Grimm, easily more than there was at Outlook. After what felt like an eternity, which was two-to-three hours of near constant assault, the force had started to die down. All the water Grimm had seemed to disappear and Sphinxes and large Nevermores had also gone, with the rest of the Grimm being the Griffons and the occasional Beowolf wandering from the inner island. It was then that they all noticed something rising from the water. Whatever it was, it was a Grimm, but it had a long snout and a giant sail on its back, resembling a prehistoric creature. The spine of the thing was bulkier than one would expect for speed underwater but it would soon be revealed why it had such a bulky sail. It had split open and revealed some pulsing red organ that started to take in saltwater and churn it around itself. JULI could do nothing but watch, as the creature, although not very big, was too far for any real damage to be done. It also didn't help that it had instinctively protected the organ. Once half-a-minute had gone by, there were electric pulses coming from the beast, and, finally, a large electromagnetic pulse had exploded from it. JULI braced, unknowing of what the blast would do, but it had done nothing. It was then June checked her scroll and realized that the blast had eliminated any form of contact to reinforcements. At first, she didn't know what to do. Thankfully, whatever the beast was had started to retreat once it had done that. The next problem was figuring out if they could leave, as without proper contact they wouldn't be sure when the Grimm truly died down. After telling the rest of the team, and checking their scrolls to confirm, they were equal parts relieved and annoyed. "You're telling me we have to stay out here even longer," was Ino's first response. As pointless as the complaint seemed, everything that had happened was truly unpredictable, even for a Huntsmen team. "I know that we're all exhausted," June started, "but we should restock and be prepared just in case." Her tone had a hint of concern and tiredness, but the team complied and they restocked. JULI had went to restock, all except June, who had restocked recently and didn't need more. While she was waiting, something started to disturb the water farther out. Whatever it was, it started to create small waves as it the seafloor grew closer to the shore. A sail had started to peer out of the water soon after, which June at first thought was the mysterious creature from before returning. However, as the sail came out more, it was white with no hint of red and had a more spiky sail. It was also... larger. June had physically recoiled when she realized what it was, and rushed to where the rest of JULI were, almost using her semblance in the process. They were halfway back from the supply tents when she met up with them. They had never seen June dawn such rushed expressions, simply telling them that they needed to hurry, "Now!" JULI ran as fast as they could towards the beach. Once they got there, they could now see what had gotten June's attention. The beast had rose from the water, showing off its exposed rib-cage and menacing six eyes that flickered in the direction of JULI. It was a Leviathan, a DR-5 creature that JULI could only dream of guaranteeing a kill on without heavy ordinance. June had grabbed her scroll to see if it was working. At first, it looked as though it was booting up, and even let June record for only a second, but it had quickly shut off, as it still had problems. The rest of JULI had attempted this as well, with Uruclay being able to get it on for a little bit longer than June, but all of it was to no avail. The true test to their skills had found itself, and June had realized they would have to fight to prevent the creature from reaching the island. The EMP must have caused concern and fear on the island to increase, therefore the creature must have been brought closer. June put her scroll away and started to reassure her team, keeping calm and trying to inspire them while telling them her plan. It had worked, for the most part, as they all nodded their heads in agreement and took their positions. June would take point while the rest stayed behind her as supporting fire, with Uruclay closer to Levi to protect him if he needed to used a charged shot. Uruclays usual tank position would have to be ignored, as it was unlikely he would be able to resist the full strength of a Leviathan. It slowly approached the beach, and after it got there it had started to roar. June had sprung forward, using her semblance to fire up like a bullet. Before the beast could swing at her, the rest of JULI fired at the beast, and it had effected the beast a little. As minor as the bullet hell was for the thing, its small recoil gave June an opening on beast, and she was able to land on it. She started up its arm and used her full speed while deploying the blades from _Angeli_ _Cadunt_. Her path was a spiral up its arm, and the dust infused attacked had damaged the beast. It had recoiled heavily and showed nothing had hit it that hard before. JULI were astounded by the hard hit, with Levi following up with a charged shot from the _Rote_ _Bedrohung_. The Grimm had also recoiled from this, although less than June's, but even with both of their assaults, it had recovered fine. The recovery was also quick, with it immediately firing an electric fire breath towards Levi. It was fast and Levi didn't have enough time to dodge, but Uruclay had rushed to move him and try to shield him at best. Although he was able to move them both, the blasts splash effect had hit both of them hard, with Levi looking completely out of commission. He tried to fire at the beast, getting one shot in before realizing it wouldn't do anything, especially with the little aura he knew he was left with. All this did was grab its attention and it prepared to swing at him. June had then went for its head, sliding across in a similar manner as before. She went for its eyes, taking out all three on its left side. However, when she rushed towards the other three, it showed some cunning and had used its right arm to shield its eyes. June had then tried attacking its hand to weaken it and get it off, but it had done nothing. Her extensive semblance use had drained her exponentially, and she could feel herself getting weaker. She had to go on though, and she had thought off a new plan. She signaled to Ino to get to Levi and Uruclay to see how Levi was doing. The Leviathan wasn't planning on letting Ino move, though, using its left to try and crush Ino. It had surprising speed and took Ino off guard. With no time to dodge, it looked as though it was the end for her. In a split second, a blue flash had appeared. While June was using her full speed she had only a second to use with her current aura, but this was what she perceived as a second, as the real time going by was milliseconds. In that time, she was accustomed to things moving extremely slow, some coming to what seemed to be a stop. However, the beast had been moving faster than slow. With very little time, she spiraled around its hand and wrist area while moving Ino some distance away. She couldn't move her far, in fear her aura would drain completely, and had stopped using her semblance. The Leviathan screeched in pain but still hit the ground with tremendous force. This had knocked Ino back and did major damage as it kept the speed it was using before. It had almost knocked her out, so she was spread out on the ground defenseless and could only watch. June was exhausted and her aura flickered. She had one more chance to stun the beast, but she would have to hope for a miracle to win, or get it to run. She had another last resort. Most nun-chuck masters are accustomed to using two of the weapon instead of just one, which June has trained in before relying on one weapon. A second pair of _Angeli_ _Cadunt_ had been created that year as a gift by Amica, with the new pair being called _Angutus_ _Ortus_. The weapon had the same functions as its original pair, its true function being its synchronization with its original counterpart. June took out the _Angutus_ _Ortus_ and connected it to the _Angeli_ _Cadunt_. This created a staff-like weapon, except smaller and would work as more than just a stick, which connected by stiffening the gravity crystals and combining them from end-to-end. Once the attaching process was complete, she rushed the Leviathan. She would have to outsmart it to save her aura, so her plan involved tricking it. First, she rushed the set of eyes that she hadn't gotten before. The thing had instinctively put its hand on it to protect itself, and then she went to the left side and fired at the open wound. The combined weapon, called _Pruergium_, combined the firing capabilities of all the weapons and allowed it to become an anti-material rifle. It could only fire once at a time but firing into the open wound had made the creature screech in pain. It had used its right arm to cover the injury and try to crush June. She jumped when the movement started and retracted the blade from _Pruergium_. Then, she would use the blade to stab it in the chest, allowing herself to stop in the air. However, the Leviathan had stepped back, using a lot of its energy to quickly move back. June had to something quick, and she decided to use the rifles knock back to boost her towards it. Unfortunately, it had taken its left arm off the wound and had started to slash at her. If she used her round to avoid the hit, she wouldn't be able to guarantee getting to its chest. It was then that the water had started to shake, obviously being disturbed. June thought it to be another Grimm, thinking the worst, but when she glanced at where Levi and Uruclay were, Levi was crouched down with his open palms in the sand. He had used his semblance, figuring out his aura was low enough for use. He wouldn't be able move it without extensive use of it that could do damage, however, Uruclay had been giving him his aura to assist in doing it. The combined effort had made the beast lose balance, and June had her opening. They were putting everything into her attack, so she was going to try and not let them down. After she had fired the _Pruergium_ and stabbed into its chest to land, she used the weapons hard light dust core to create something capable of piercing the Leviathans skin. With the combination of _Angeli_ _Cadunt_ and _Angutus_ _Ortus_, their hard light cores combined into one and allowed the _Pruergium_ to create larger constructs. It created several extended bent knife arms that cut into the beast, which gave the weapon more support. Then, after extending further into its skin, the blades started to spin at fast speeds. Before the Grimm had time to react, June fired another round into it, and then created several hard light recreations of the _Pruergium's_ rifle part once the blades were finished cutting open holes into it. Hard light weapons were incapable of recreating the effects of dust and ammo, so she would use her semblance to reload the constructs withing seconds. Her usage of her speed had lasted a little under a second, but it would be the most she could get out. Before she was fully drained, she retracted the _Pruergium_ and leaped back onto the beach. Once she landed, she had dropped to her knees and her aura had dissipated. Exhausted, she had looked up to see what had become of the Leviathan. It was still, a gaping wound in its chest, and it looked as though it was falling back. She sighed in relief and started to drop her head. When she looked back up to check on her teammates, she noticed that they were fine, but she had seen something else on the edge of the bay. She was too far to make out exactly what it was, but it was black and had a humanoid figure, as though it was hooded. After a couple seconds of looking, it had flee'd at an alarming speed. She started to question what it was and had thought it cou- June's thoughts were interrupted with a rumble and quake, and when she looked up, the Leviathan had braced itself from its fall and started to approach where Uruclay and Levi were. Her spirit was broken and could only watch as it started to charge its electric breath while facing them. Levi had used his remaining strength to grab _Rote Bedrohung_ and tried to fire, but he was too weak to get enough rounds out. Uruclay was also too exhausted to try to move because of his combined semblance use with Levi. June desperately needed to do something. She was overwhelmed with a sense of protecting her teammates and wanted to keep them alive. It was then that something had triggered inside of her.

The bay shown a brilliant silver light, reflecting off the water and giving an intensity seemingly equal to the sun. The light enveloped the Leviathan, turning it to stone near instantly. Its weakened state and the more powerful and ruthless light had killed the beast some seconds after it turned to stone. All of JULI were confused about what just happened, and when they turned to June they were only more confused. She had been in her crouching stance but her eyes were now ignited with a silver fire. A second after the Leviathan was killed, she fell to the floor, completely unconscious. Ino had recovered enough to walk and run normally, and went to attend to her. After another twenty minutes of waiting, an airship had come to pick them up. After looking at Uruclay, they concluded that he wouldn't need any treatment, but that June was something they didn't know how to treat. Levi would be fine, his aura simply drained. Ozpin was waiting for them back at the campsite, being alerted of the EMP and was concerned about his Hunters. He called the rest of JULI to meet him alone, and he asked what happened to their leader. "I- We're not sure," was Ino's first response, which both Levi and Uruclay had nodded in agreement. "Well," Ozpin had went off from that, "begin with what happened after the blackout." Ino had begun to explain what happened, with the Grimm that had been the origin of the EMP, and the reveal of the Leviathan. "I... saw that," he cut her off, "your scrolls were able to capture it for a couple seconds, and I'm truly happy you all were able to get out of there alive." They all looked down, and then Ino had went on to explain the battle. "Once we thought it was finished, or retreating, " she had gotten to the end, "it had got back up and started to get close to Levi and Uruclay. I could see that June was concerned, but the next thing I saw was a blinding white light. After the light went away, the Leviathan was dissolving while June collapsed on the ground." Now he knew. Ozpins answer to June's knowledge of Silver-Eyed Warriors had finally shown. He dismissed them and visited where June was put. He had then opened her eyes. Her blue eye color was gone, and in its place was a shining silver. The contacts she wore were burnt away when she used her power, and now her secret was revealed. Ozpin left the tent and told caregivers that he had seen this before and that she was fine, only needing rest to recover. He also advised them that they needed to leave her alone to guarantee her safety. They weren't sure of it but trusted the headmasters judgement. After some time, JULI were brought back to Beacon.

June had woke up two days later, with everything still in some pain but not bad. She was greeted by Ino, who hugged her when she woke up. June hugged back and asked what happened. "Well," Ino had started, "after the mission, we were exempt from the written exam and put off school until graduation because the mission was concluded to be a DR-5. When it came to the mission, after your... stunt, we were picked up shortly after and brought home fine." June was relieved to here, then realized that she had no contacts. "So," June had stopped short, "every one of you saw that." Ino thought it a weird question, as someone would have to be blind to not see that, but questioned her about why she would keep something big like that a secret. Deeming it too late to keep a secret, and the trust she developed over the years with her team, she told Ino that she would explain once Levi and Uurclay had come back. Ino , after finding the two in the Library, had grabbed the two of them and brought them back. They both hugged June, happy that she was OK, but she then got to the point. She started to tell the story of the Silver-Eyed Warriors, including their ability to kill Grimm with a single stare. It made sense how she could do that now and she continued. Her next explanation was that people were hunting the warriors, and, at that, extremely skilled people were doinf it. She also added that, being told by her father, she was a prodigy among prodigies, as a normal warrior would only be able to freeze something that big in stone. Now they knew the reason for her hiding, but Ino realized something else quickly after June finished. "Wait," Ino had broken the silence, "doesn't that mean Summer would... be apart of that?" There had been silence, as Levi and Uruclay realized she had the power, and June had broken the new silence half-a-minute later, "Yeah, she does. But she doesn't know of them." The mood was ruined. Ino had tried to get everyone doing something else, asking June how she felt. June, realizing what she was doing, had told her she was fine and that she could walk. She then got up and started to stretch. Levi and Uruclay followed suit, helping the mood change to something more relaxing. After a couple days of resting, June was called to Ozpins office about something. It wasn't too unusual but Summer had greeted June at the elevator leading to the top of the tower. In the elevator, she explained that Ozpin had wanted her to join in. Now June was curious what he was trying to accomplish. Summer had taken a place a couple feet from June when she sat down. "Quite an impressive feat to take on a Leviathan," Oz had started, "Well, an understatement for a single Huntsmen team being able to pull it off. The real question is: How did you do it?" June had ignored the vagueness and got straight to the point, "Why do you care about my silver eyes, and how do you know anything about it." Summer had quickly glanced at June, confused by her statement, as June had been wearing sunglasses to hide her eyes before she had gotten more contacts. "Summer," Oz had continued, "I brought you here for a reason. Both of you have silver eyes, but one of you knows more than the other." Now both of them looked at each other, shocked, but for different reasons. Summer didn't see her eye color until June took off her glasses to show them, and June didn't realize Ozpin had told her about her powers. "Now," Oz prevented them from asking each other questions, "I called you up here June to... tell you about something. I've already asked you about fairy tales, but what if I told you they were true?" Her expression didn't change, and Oz had went on, "I wouldn't usually just tell anyone this but you should know the reason why you were pit against a Leviathan and introduced to two new types of Grimm. The Grimm have a form of leader, a powerful entity who exudes some control over the beasts that threaten humanity. Her name is Salem." Now June reacted, confused and unbelieving of the information. However, when she looked to Summer, she nodded in agreement, showing she knew too. "I know it's a bit to take in but I feel you deserve an explanation," Oz had explained, "as you were put against overwhelming odds. Although, you defended yourself and your team, so I'll explain the rest. Our current theory is that Salem had arranged an assault on the island, hoping to gain a foothold on Vale for a future attack. That's why the horde had shown some form of a plan on the Grimm's part." It made sense. Grimm wouldn't have randomly just attacked without incentive, or a spike in negative emotions, which nothing had happened recently on Patch. "If this Salem is a sentient leader of Grimm," June had started to ask, "does that mean she's the one hunting Silver-Eyed Warriors?" Oz had paused and answered honestly, "I'm... not sure, but it's fare to say she probably is." She didn't know what to say while keeping to herself the mysterious figure she saw nearing the end of the battle. After Oz had explained that she should keep it a secret, even from her teammates, he dismissed the both of them. They talked about their powers, and Summer had thought the contact thing was a good idea. She still wasn't going to use them, though, as it was a little too late for her to do it. Then, June had brought up graduation, which would take place two weeks from then. Summer still was waiting for exam results while hoping that she had passed. A quick reassurance from June had calmed that down, but it was still a matter of time before she got the results.

The two weeks had gone by slowly, every senior in Beacon waiting for graduation and all the other students wanting school to be over. Finally, the day had come, and all senior teams were assembled to graduate. JULI and STRQ were waiting as Ozpin started to announce teams and giving them their 'degrees.' At last, JULI had been called up. "This team has shown brilliant thinking," Oz had started to announce, "cunning strategy, and promising skills. Most recently, their final mission had been perilous as they went against overwhelming odds. However, they pulled through and showed what they were capable of. I would like to call Team JULI up." He gestured to where they were seated, and everyone clapped as usual. JULI were all extremely happy, mostly to be happy to get out in the world, with June being the one thinking this. Her sense of adventure and protecting people never faded from her childhood, and now she was finally able to get out there for good. Although not making that many, the friends she had made over the years at Beacon were going to be with her for awhile. JULI had sat back down to wait for the ceremony to be over, and they were also excited to see STRQ. Team after team had gone by and were awarded until every one had been called upon. "That concludes the ceremony," Oz had started to end it off, "now you may all be dismissed." It felt both long and short to everyone. All the seniors had already moved their possessions out of their dorms, but were allowed to stay an extra night if they wanted. JULI stayed the night while Tai and Raven had left, together surprisingly. Morning had come and the teams would bid each other a goodbye. June asked Summer what she planned on doing, and she told her she was going to stay with Tai on Patch for the time being. June planned to explore and clear up loose ends elsewhere, but was vague about it. Summer didn't mind and had got on the airship. Finally, she would say goodbye to her teammates. Uruclay had to go to Atlas to get situated and Levi planned to follow him, but stay doing his own thing instead directly joining Atlas. Ino, however, said that she wasn't sure, and planned to join June in her adventures. June was shocked but said that she wouldn't mind the company. Before Levi and Uruclay could leave, though, June had something to tell them all. "Oh yeah," she started to say, "Ozpin told me that the names of the Grimm we encountered were determined." Even with the ubiquity of Grimm, it felt nice to discover a new one. June said the name for the aquatic Grimm would be the Sabuestria, and the special, EMP Grimm would be called the Spineback. "Nice," was the thing Levi added, while Uruclay nodded with agreement that they sounded like cool names. Now, Ino and June said goodbye to Uruclay and Levi as they boarded a ship to Atlas, and June would join Ino in going to Vale which she was doing to see her parents a bit before going out. After a couple day visit to Ino's home, the two left the border of the kingdom to see what awaited them next...

This thus concludes the _Beacon Saga_.


End file.
